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Season
1922/23
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Getting
closer
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The combination of Baker and Hart, alongside Fred Whalley in goal, full-backs
Duffield and Frew and right-half Harry Sherwin, was a sound basis for
a promotion team. Centre-forward Jack Swan remained up front from the
previous season, but Tommy Howarth was on his way to Bristol Rovers in
November 1922. Glaswegian winger Joe Harris (Bristol City), Alan Noble (Brentford) and
Percy Whipp (a £750 buy from Sunderland at the start of November) were
brought in to pep up the forward line. The team was very settled and Whalley
(42), Duffield (41), Frew (33), Hart (41), Baker (42) and Harris (39)
all played more than 30 league games. In addition, Whipp and right winger
Noble missed just three matches between them after they both came into
the side at the beginning of November. The defensive stability was still there and the club created another
defensive record, conceding only 36 in the league and keeping 19 clean
sheets. The attack was still struggling, however, and the team managed
just 43 goals all season. Jack Swan, who had previously been so productive
up front, scored in both of the first two games, but struggled to a miserly
total of 8 in the league. If he had maintained his previous strike rate,
Leeds may well have seriously been in the promotion hunt. Manager Arthur
Fairclough tried all season to find the best combination up front,
but apart from Whipp, none of them stood out. The team started none too brightly and had won only five of the first
12 games by the time Whipp was signed on 3rd November. The Scottish inside-forward
admitted that he had never been to Leeds before , but he was an instant
success, hitting a hat-trick in his debut against West Ham the day after
he joined Leeds. He went on to be top scorer for the season with 15 goals
in his 29 matches, a very healthy return. His arrival sparked off a very
good spell for the club, and they won 8 of the 12 games following his
arrival, with Whipp hitting 10 of their 15 goals, while they conceded
just 6. The team could not keep up the improvement, however, and won
just five of their remaining 18 matches, trailing in a disappointing
7th place, although they finished just four points off promotion.
They ended strongly, with three straight wins, including a 3-0
victory at Elland Road over champions Notts County and took a
point out of their visit to County in the preceding match. Clearly things were heading in the right direction and Fairclough
was building a powerful outfit, although Dick
Ray had decided his future lay elsewhere and he quit in June
1923 to manage Doncaster Rovers. Fairclough's solution was to
renew the partnership he had enjoyed at Barnsley in their halcyon
days, by bringing in Blackpool manager Dick Norman as Ray's replacement. Other Football Highlights from 1922/23 |