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1953–54 Colchester United F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Colchester United
season	1953–54
chairman	Bill Allen
manager	Ron Meades
(11 June to 15 June)
Jack Butler
(from 16 June)
stadium	Layer Road
league	Third Division South
league result	23rd (re-elected)
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	1st round
(eliminated by
Millwall)
league topscorer
Bert Barlow (10)
season topscorer
Bert Barlow (10)
highest attendance	10,316
v Ipswich Town, 19 December 1953
lowest attendance	6,035
v Southend United, 29 April 1954
average attendance	7,797
largest win	5–0
v Queens Park Rangers, 25 December 1953
largest loss	0–4
v Millwall, 23 November 1953
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	1952–53
nextseason	1954–55

(11 June to 15 June) Jack Butler (from 16 June) (eliminated by Millwall) Bert Barlow (10) Bert Barlow (10) v Ipswich Town, 19 December 1953 v Southend United, 29 April 1954 v Queens Park Rangers, 25 December 1953 v Millwall, 23 November 1953 The 1953–54 season was Colchester United's twelfth season in their history and their fourth season in the Third Division South, the third tier of English football. Alongside competing in the Third Division South, the club also participated in the FA Cup. Colchester were knocked out in the first round of the cup by Millwall following a replay. The club struggled in the league for the second successive season, eventually finishing 23rd of 24 teams under new manager Jack Butler. The club had to apply for re-election at the end of the season for the first of three occasions in its history. All four clubs applying for re-election were successful, with Colchester receiving 45 votes, behind Chester by three votes but ahead of both Walsall (32 votes) and Halifax Town (28 votes).

Season overview

Following Jimmy Allen's resignation at the end of the previous season, the Colchester United board shortlisted three names for the vacant managerial position, and in-line with their cost reduction policy, appointed Ron Meades as player-manager. Meades had claimed to have been with Cardiff City, and more recently manager of Western League side Wadebridge Town. Journalist Arthur Wood investigated Meades' background and revealed that Meades was a fraud, and after just four days in charge, Meades was asked to leave by the club.

Colchester hurriedly appointed a new manager, Jack Butler, a former player for Arsenal and England international. He had coached in Belgium, initially with Royal Daring Club Molenbeek and had been in charge of the Belgium national team between 1935 and 1940, leading them to the 1938 World Cup finals. More recently, he had managed Torquay United and Crystal Palace, but Butler had little time to prepare his side ahead of the new season, and a 13-game winless run in late 1953 saw Colchester slump to 23rd position in the league.

With the crowd average falling season-on-season to 7,797, the club were required to apply for re-election after finishing the campaign ten points adrift of safety. Colchester earned 45 votes, enough to ensure another season in the Football League, but having been prolific goalscorers earlier in their history, the club had scored only 50 league goals this season.

Players

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1953	FB	ENG	Fred Lewis	ENG Chelsea	Free transfer
June 1953	CF	ENG	Tommy Harris	ENG Leyton Orient	Part-exchange with Stan Edwards	url=http://coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=196	title=Tommy Harris	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=29 February 2016 }}
August 1953	CB	ENG	Billy Hunt	Amateur	Free transfer
20 August 1953	WH	ENG	Doug Keene	ENG Brighton & Hove Albion	£1,000
October 1953	WH	IRL	Austin Dunne	IRL Limerick	Free transfer
24 December 1953	WH	ENG	Bob Dale	ENG Bury	£1,500
January 1954	CF	ENG	Ken Plant	ENG Bury	Undisclosed

Total spending: ~ £2,500

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
2 May 1953	FB	ENG	Phil Rookes	ENG Chichester City	Manager
June 1953	CF	ENG	Stan Edwards	ENG Leyton Orient	Part-exchange with Tommy Harris
22 August 1953	FB	WAL	Trevor Rowlands	ENG Great Yarmouth Town	Free transfer
5 December 1953	CF	ENG	Tommy Harris	ENG Tonbridge	Free transfer	name=FG}}
23 January 1954	FW	ENG	Dick Cullum	ENG Sittingbourne	Free transfer
13 March 1954	IF	ENG	Bert Barlow	Retired	Retired
17 April 1954	IF	ENG	Augie Scott	ENG Cheltenham Town	Player-coach

Match details

Third Division South

Main article: 1953–54 Football League

Results round by round

League table

Matches

Elder McCurley Report Reed McCurley Barlow McCurley Bearryman McCurley Report Betteridge Day McCurley Nolan Report Reed Barlow McKim Dale Haines Report Dale Owen P. Wright Keene Plant Jamieson Report Hollis R. Brown Cook McKim P. Wright Report

FA Cup

Main article: 1953–54 FA Cup

Hazlett Neary

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

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

Goalscorers

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1	ENG	IF	Bert Barlow	10	0	10
2	ENG	CF	Kevin McCurley	8	1	9
3	SCO	IF	Johnny McKim	6	0	6
ENG	CF	Ken Plant	6	0	6
5	ENG	WH	Bob Dale	4	0	4
SCO	WH	Jimmy Elder	4	0	4
ENG	IF	Augie Scott	4	0	4
8	ENG	WH	Harry Bearryman	2	0	2
ENG	WG	Mike Grice	2	0	2
ENG	WG	Peter Wright	2	0	2
11	ENG	WH	Bert Hill	1	0	1
ENG	WH	Doug Keene	1	0	1
	Own goals	0	0	0
	TOTALS	51	1	52

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1	ENG	George Wright	7	0	7
	TOTALS	7	0	7

Player debuts

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

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground
WH	ENG	Doug Keene	20 August 1953	Torquay United	Layer Road
FB	ENG	Fred Lewis	20 August 1953	Torquay United	Layer Road
CF	ENG	Tommy Harris	10 October 1953	Coventry City	Layer Road
WH	ENG	Bob Dale	2 January 1954	Crystal Palace	Selhurst Park
CF	ENG	Ken Plant	6 February 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road

References

General

Books

Websites

Specific

References

(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Colchester Utd 1–2 Ipswich Town". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 0–1 Southend United". Coludata.co.uk.
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
"A history of admission to the Football League". Nonleaguematters.co.uk.
Hudson, Matt. (11 July 2012). "The 1950s and 1960s". Colchester United FC.
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
"Fred Lewis". Coludata.co.uk.
"Tommy Harris". Coludata.co.uk.
"Billy Hunt". Coludata.co.uk.
"Doug Keene". Coludata.co.uk.
"Austin Dunne". Coludata.co.uk.
"Bob Dale". Coludata.co.uk.
"Ken Plant". Coludata.co.uk.
"Phil Rookes". Coludata.co.uk.
"Stan Edwards". Coludata.co.uk.
"Trevor Rowlands". Coludata.co.uk.
"Dick Cullum". Coludata.co.uk.
"Bert Barlow". Coludata.co.uk.
"Augie Scott". Coludata.co.uk.
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.

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