Chairman Frank Davis Stadium Griffin Park FA Cup Fourth round | Manager Harry Curtis First Division 21st | |
Top goalscorer League: Townsend (8)
All: Townsend (9) | ||
During the 1946–47 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League First Division. The Bees' 12-year run in the First Division ended with relegation to the Second Division after a disastrous season, which tied the club record for fewest league victories and most league defeats. As of the end of the 2015–16 season, Brentford have not since played in the top-flight.
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Season summary
After three successive top-six finishes in the First Division beginning in 1935–36, Brentford's decline began with the departure of key players during 1938–39, which culminated with a near-relegation. For 1946–47, the first Football League season since the end of the Second World War, manager Harry Curtis was able to call on many of his regular players from the final pre-war seasons, though the elder players, such as Irish international full back Bill Gorman, utility man Buster Brown and former Wales forward Idris Hopkins, were all at age 35. Long-serving forward and once-capped England international Billy Scott had remained with the club and was then aged 38. The team fielded versus Aston Villa on 1 February 1947 was the oldest in club history, with an average age of over 31.5 years. Curtis supplemented the squad by bringing in wing half Cyril Toulouse and forwards John Gillies, Maurice Roberts, Alan Smith and George Stewart. As in the final pre-war seasons, Curtis would also promote players from the Bees' reserve ranks, signing amateur Roddy Munro to a professional contract and handing debuts to Frank Latimer, John Moore and Wally Bragg, with Bragg going on to become the youngest-ever Brentford debutant at that time.
Brentford had a good start to the season, winning four of the first five matches and going top on the opening day. The majority of the team's goals were scored by forwards Gerry McAloon, Fred Durrant and George Wilkins, but when the goals dried up in September 1946, Brentford's form took a turn for the worse and matters were made worse when McAloon and Durrant were quickly sold to Celtic and Queens Park Rangers respectively. Manager Curtis received half back George Paterson from Celtic in part exchange for McAloon and also strengthened the team with full back Malky Macdonald and forward Archie Macaulay. By December, Brentford had dropped into the relegation places and a run of 11 losses in 15 matches culminated in the heaviest defeat of the season - 6–1 away to Sheffield United on Christmas Day.
Brentford's form improved after the Christmas Day thrashing, going undefeated in four of the following five matches to climb out of the relegation places, but from February 1947 onwards, the team's form evaporated. Despite Len Townsend coming into form and going on to become the Bees' top scorer for the season, the goalscoring problem was compounded by the sale of George Wilkins and new forward signings Bill Naylor and Dickie Girling scored just three goals between them. On 24 May, defeat to Sunderland and a draw for 20th-place Charlton Athletic away to Everton consigned the Bees to relegation to the Second Division. By the time of the final day of the season on 14 June, Brentford had lost 14 of the final 19 matches. The relegation was the first suffered by the club since it joined the Football League in 1920. A number of club Football League records were equalled or broken during the 1946–47 season, including fewest victories (9), fewest home victories (5), most defeats (26), most home defeats (11), fewest home goals scored (19) and highest average attendance (25,768). As of the end of the 2015–16 season, Brentford have not since played in the top-flight.
League table
P = 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