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Season
1946/47
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Plumbing
the depths
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Manager Billy Hampson had little
money for new players and relied on those who had served him so well prior
to the war. Les Goldberg, Jim Milburn, Tom Holley, David Cochrane, Gerry
Henry, John Short, Aubrey Powell, George Ainsley, Bobby Browne, Billy
Heaton, Jim Twomey and Ken Gadsby had all been at Elland Road in the Thirties.
A number of other players had arrived during the war, including Tom Hindle,
and Hampson had later brought in new players like winger Dennis Grainger
and half-back Bob Batey, who had played under him at Carlisle. However,
it was noticeable that he did not have much young talent available to
him. The public's appetite for football was enormous in 1946/47, one of a
handful of pleasures that was not rationed. Had Hampson's team done anything
to encourage their supporters, Elland Road might well have seen record
crowds. But while individual results were less dire than in the previous
season, Leeds United's habit of losing became even worse. Things started badly from the opening day, although Leeds were involved
in a very historic occasion. Their official post-war record kicked off
on 31 August 1946, with a game away to Preston North End at Deepdale before
more than 25,000 football hungry fans, which marked the Football League
debut of a young winger by the name of Tom Finney, who had already played
for the England side during the war years. Despite two goals from Dennis
Grainger, Leeds United lost 3-2, with Finney marking his big day with
one of the goals. It very quickly became apparent that Leeds were going to struggle. They
won just three points from the first eight games and by the end of September
were stranded at the foot of the table. They won a couple of games in
October, another two in November and got their first away point on November
30, but that was nowhere near enough and their form started to deteriorate
even further. In fact, they won just 6 games all season, only one between
November 23 and the end of the season and gained just the one point away
from Elland Road. It was frightening stuff and Leeds' ineptitude was astonishing. Leeds had never been a rich club, but Hampson tried to arrest the decline
by paying out £8,000 to Glentoran for the versatile 23 year old Con Martin
and another £4,000 on After New Year, the team fell apart, winning only one of their last 21
matches - a 2-1 home victory over Chelsea that attracted 37,884, the highest
crowd of the season. The statistics made grim reading: Leeds' points tally of 18 was the lowest
ever recorded in the First Division and remained so for 38 years. They
were a clear 20 points below the 20th team in the division, they lost
20 of their last 24 games and struggled all season for goals. Their away
record - won 0, drawn 1, lost 20 - uniquely awful. The writing was on the wall and in April 1947 Hampson was demoted to
chief scout with Leeds already doomed to relegation and loss of the First
Division status they had held since 1932. The board promoted assistant
trainer Willis Edwards, who had
previously played more than 400 times for the club. He took over for the
last six games, all of which ended in defeat. Paradoxically, the public flocked to Elland Road to see the disaster.
Like most English clubs, Leeds enjoyed an upsurge in crowds following
the war and the average attendance of 26,000 was some 3,000 better than
any previous year. Other Football Highlights from 1946/47 |