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1938–39 Colchester United F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Colchester United
season	1938–39
chairman	Maurice Pye
manager	Ted Davis
stadium	Layer Road
league	Southern League
league result	Winners
league2	Southern League
Mid-Week Section
league2 result	Runners-up
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	1st round
(eliminated by Folkestone)
cup2	Southern League Cup
cup2 result	Semi-final
(competition not
completed)
league topscorer
Arthur Pritchard (34)
season topscorer
Arthur Pritchard (44)
highest attendance	13,000 (estimate)
v Guildford City, 7 April 1939
lowest attendance	4,000 (estimate)
v Barry Town, 31 December 1938
average attendance	8,307
largest win	8–0
v Dartford, 16 March 1939
largest loss	0–3
v Cardiff City Reserves, 18 March 1939
pattern_name1	Home
pattern_la1	_white_stripes
pattern_b1	_whitestripes
pattern_ra1	_white_stripes
pattern_so1	_3whitehoops
leftarm1	0000FF
body1	0000FF
rightarm1	0000FF
shorts1	FFFFFF
socks1	0000FF
alt1	Football kit (white jersey with blue, vertical stripes; white shorts;; and blue socks with white, horizontal hoops).
prevseason	1937–38
nextseason	1939–40

Mid-Week Section (eliminated by Folkestone) (competition not completed) Arthur Pritchard (34) Arthur Pritchard (44) v Guildford City, 7 April 1939 v Barry Town, 31 December 1938 v Dartford, 16 March 1939 v Cardiff City Reserves, 18 March 1939 The 1938–39 season was Colchester United's second season in their history and their second in the Southern League. Alongside competing in the Southern League, the club also participated in the Southern League Mid-Week Section and Southern League Cup. Colchester won the Southern League title after beating local rivals Chelmsford City to the top of the league by one point. They also reached the 1st round of the FA Cup, where they were eliminated by Folkestone, and finished as runners-up to Tunbridge Wells Rangers in the Mid-Week Section. They reached the semi-final of the Southern League Cup, but the competition could not be completed due to fixture congestion.

Season overview

Manager Ted Davis began strengthening his squad ready for a push to reach the Football League over the summer period. The public responded by turning out in force for a game against Gillingham, with 8,142 in attendance, and a week later, a visit from Arsenal 'A' saw 10,129 watch Colchester beat their counterparts 2–0. However, Davis securing a number of high-profile players came at a cost. Many were still contracted to the Football League clubs that they were signed from, meaning that if Colchester were to gain election to the Football League, the club would have very few contracted players.

Colchester made their first FA Cup outing during the 1938–39 season. They saw off Ilford 4–1 at Layer Road, but were defeated in the first round proper by Folkestone, watched by 8,160.

In a very successful season for the club, Colchester claimed the Southern League title by one point over Guildford City, scoring 110 goals in 44 games. They finished second in the Mid-Week Section, and reached the semi-final of the Southern League Cup, although due to fixture congestion, the game could not be played during the regular season and was postponed until the 1939–40 campaign.

Overall, Colchester scored 161 goals, with Arthur Pritchard netting 44 goals, George Wallis 24, and Alec Cheyne and Len Astill scoring 21 apiece.

The case for Football League election was presented to Football League members on 23 May 1938 by club director Walter Clark. With high hopes for election following a successful season, Colchester United failed to secure a single vote from the members, put down to the fact that there were so many League-registered players on the books that Davis had signed for Colchester.

Despite the League setback, the ownership of the Layer Road ground was passed to Colchester Borough Council, with club chairman Maurice Pye declaring:

Players

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee
20 May 1938	IL/OL	ENG	Len Astill	ENG Ipswich Town	Free transfer
26 May 1938	CF	ENG	Ernie Matthews	ENG Sheffield Wednesday	£2,500
27 May 1938	LB	IRE	Cecil Allan	ENG Chelsea	£2,000
3 June 1938	LB	ENG	Alf Worton	ENG Norwich City	Free transfer
17 June 1938	GK	ENG	Billy Light	ENG West Bromwich Albion	£1,500
24 June 1938	LB/RB	ENG	Joe Birch	ENG Fulham	£750
22 July 1938	LH/RH	ENG	Robert Morris	ENG Norwich City	£500
30 September 1938	IF	ENG	George Merritt	ENG Derby County	Free transfer
24 January 1939	IF	SCO	Robert Murray	ENG Bath City	£800

Total spending: ~ £8,050

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee
End of season	RB	ENG	Cliff Fairchild	ENG Arsenal	£500
14 May 1938	LH/RH	ENG	Jimmy Collins	Retired	Released
14 May 1938	OL	ENG	Bill Barraclough	ENG Doncaster Rovers	Free transfer
31 May 1938	CF/IL	WAL	Bill Pendergast	ENG Chester	Free transfer
23 June 1938	LB	USA	Alexander Wood	ENG Chelmsford City	Free transfer
September 1938	CF		Albert Bennett	Free agent	Released
12 January 1939	IL/OL	ENG	Ken Mayes	ENG Chelmsford City	Free transfer

Total incoming: ~ £500

Match details

Friendlies

Williams Cheyne Freeman Thacker (Colchester Challenge Cup Final) Fieldus

Southern League

Main article: 1938–39 Southern Football League

League table

Matches

Matthews Morris Morris Wallis Cheyne Gilmour Astill Pritchard Worton Wallis Birch (o.g.) Leedham Crisp Green Hodge Matthews Hodge Hodge Pritchard Crisp Pritchard Pritchard Astill Wallis Morris Pritchard Hodge Wallis Astill Astill Murray Murray Hodge Woodman Court Crisp Cheyne McPheat R. Brown Wallis Hodge Matthews Pritchard Pritchard Olver Wallis Birch Morris Wright O'Leary Wallis Astill

Southern League Mid-Week Section

League table

Matches

Cassidy Pritchard Astill Grainger Thacker Gray Hodge Pritchard Astill Robinson Cheyne Astill Cheyne Murray Wallis Pritchard Crisp Kitchener Wallis Wallis Maskell

Southern League Cup

Cheyne Pritchard Astill Astill Pritchard Pritchard

FA Cup

Main article: 1938–39 FA Cup

Wallis Crisp Hodge Birch (o.g.)

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|- !colspan="14"|Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season |}

Goalscorers

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Southern League	FA Cup	SL Mid-Week Section	Southern League Cup	Total
1	WAL	CF	Arthur Pritchard	34	1	6	3	44
2	ENG	IF	George Wallis	16	1	6	1	24
3	ENG	IL/OL	Len Astill	12	0	6	3	21
SCO	IH	Alec Cheyne	14	0	5	2	21
5	ENG	OR	Jack Hodge	12	1	3	1	17
6	ENG	WG	George Crisp	7	1	3	0	11
7	SCO	IF	Robert Murray	4	0	2	0	6
8	ENG	LH/RH	Robert Morris	4	0	1	0	5
9	ENG	CF	Ernie Matthews	3	0	1	0	4
10	WAL	CB/RH	Jimmy Baker	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	LB/RB	Joe Birch	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	CB	George Leslie	0	1	0	0	1
WAL	RH	George Smith	0	0	1	0	1
ENG	CF	Ivan Thacker	0	0	1	0	1
	Own goals	2	0	1	0	3
	TOTALS	110	5	36	10	161

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.

Place	Nationality	Position	Player	Southern League	FA Cup	SL Mid-Week Section	Southern League Cup	Total
1	ENG	CB	George Leslie	38	2	12	2	54
		6	0	4	1	11
	TOTALS	44	2	16	3	65

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Southern League	FA Cup	SL Mid-Week Section	Southern League Cup	Total
1	ENG	Billy Light	13	2	0	1	16
2	ENG	Don Youngs	6	1	0	1	8
3	ENG	Ronnie Dunn	1	0	0	0	1
	TOTALS	20	0	3	2	25

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground
GK	ENG	Billy Light	28 August 1938	Gillingham	Layer Road
LB/RB	ENG	Joe Birch	28 August 1938	Gillingham	Layer Road
LH/RH	ENG	Robert Morris	28 August 1938	Gillingham	Layer Road
LB	ENG	Alf Worton	28 August 1938	Gillingham	Layer Road
IL/OL	ENG	Len Astill	28 August 1938	Gillingham	Layer Road
CF	ENG	Ernie Matthews	28 August 1938	Gillingham	Layer Road
LB	IRE	Cecil Allan	22 September 1938	Norwich City Reserves	Carrow Road
IF	ENG	George Merritt	8 October 1938	Aldershot Reserves	Recreation Ground
IF	SCO	Robert Murray	2 February 1939	Folkestone	Layer Road

References

General

Specific

References

(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Colchester Utd 1–0 Guildford City". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 5–1 Barry". Coludata.co.uk.
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
Hudson, Matt. (11 August 2013). "The 1930s and 1940s". Colchester United FC.
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
"Len Astill". Coludata.co.uk.
"Ernie Matthews". Coludata.co.uk.
"Cecil Allan". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alf Worton". Coludata.co.uk.
"Bill Light". Coludata.co.uk.
"Joe Birch". Coludata.co.uk.
"Robert Morris". Coludata.co.uk.
"George Merritt". Coludata.co.uk.
"Bob Murray". Coludata.co.uk.
"Cliff Fairchild". Coludata.co.uk.
"Jimmy Collins". Coludata.co.uk.
"Bill Barraclough". Coludata.co.uk.
"Will Pendergast". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alex Wood". Coludata.co.uk.
"Albert Bennett". Coludata.co.uk.
"Kenny Mayes". Coludata.co.uk.
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
"All matches". Coludata.co.uk.
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alltime - List of Debuts". Coludata.co.uk.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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