Chairman Louis P. Simon Stadium Griffin Park FA Cup Third round | Manager Harry Curtis Second Division 4th | |
Top goalscorer League: Holliday (27)
All: Holliday (27) | ||
During the 1933–34 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division for the first time in the club's history. A strong run in the middle of the season saw the Bees hold the second promotion place throughout March 1934, before a slight drop in form led the club to a still-impressive 4th-place finish.
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Season summary
In preparation for Brentford's first-ever season in the Second Division, manager Harry Curtis brought in a number of younger players to replace ageing full backs Tom Adamson, Alexander Stevenson and half back captain Jimmy Bain. Curtis stuck with the same free-scoring strikeforce of the previous season, electing to add only outside left Charlie Fletcher from Clapton Orient. Despite winning just 6 of the opening 16 matches of the season, Brentford found themselves in 8th place, before a run of 8 wins in 11 matches put the club into the second promotion place on 3 February 1934. Manager Curtis had made an astute purchase in the transfer market in January, purchasing Southend United's full back Arthur Bateman as a replacement for Tom Adamson.
2nd place was held until a defeat to Bradford City on 24 March dropped Brentford back to 3rd, with results in the following four matches dropping the club to 4th. A 2–0 win over Swansea Town on 14 April saw the Bees rise back to the one remaining promotion place, with just three matches to play. Defeat to Millwall in the first of those matches dropped Brentford back to 4th, but a resounding 5–0 victory over Lincoln City in the penultimate match of the season left the Bees knowing that a draw and favourable results for 2nd-place Preston North End and 3rd-place Bolton Wanderers on the final day would be enough to secure promotion to the First Division. Despite Brentford's 2–1 victory over Bury at Gigg Lane on the final day, victory for Preston North End saw the Lilywhites pip Bolton Wanderers into the second promotion place, with Brentford forced to settle for a still-brilliant 4th-place finish in the club's first season in the second tier of English football.
Just one of Brentford's 85 goals during the season came from a player who was not a forward, centre half Joe James and the tally of 8 goalscorers was at that time the lowest in club history. Jack Holliday top-scored with an impressive 27 goals, while Idris Hopkins flourished at the higher level, scoring 21 times. Ernest Muttitt, Billy Scott and Charlie Fletcher ably supported Holliday and Hopkins by also scoring in double-figures.
League table
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points