1939–40 Birmingham F.C. season

During the 1939–40 season, Birmingham Football Club played three Second Division matches before the Football League season was abandoned because of the Second World War. The team had been relegated in 1938–39 after 18 consecutive seasons in the top tier. Regionally based competitions were organised so that football could continue while unnecessary travel was minimised. Birmingham played in the Midland Regional League, finishing fourth of eight teams, and in the Football League War Cup, in which they lost to eventual winners West Ham United in the quarter final.

Birmingham F.C.

1939–40 season
Chairman	Harry Morris Jr
Ground	St Andrew's
Football League Second Division	2nd (abandoned)
Midland Regional League	4th
Football League War Cup	Quarter final (eliminated by West Ham United)
Top goalscorer	League: Wilson Jones (10) All: Harold Bodle (12)
Home colours

Background

After 18 consecutive seasons in the First Division, Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 1938–39 Football League campaign. Manager George Liddell resigned, and returned to his former career as a schoolteacher. First-team coach Jack Bestall also left the club. No successors were appointed. Trainer Billy Gibson's duties were extended to include coaching,[1] and Jack Foster, formerly chief scout at Portsmouth, was appointed to the corresponding role at Birmingham.[2] The directors stated that they were "prepared to accept Mr Foster's advice in all matters relating to players", but confirmed that they would act promptly if it became necessary to appoint a manager.[3]

During the previous season, 1500 new tip-up seats had been installed and the terracing in front of the grandstand completely renovated.[4] Over the close season, the pitch was replanted and reseeded.[3]

Player departures included goalkeeper Frank Clack and half-backs Wally Halsall, Bob Meacock and Dai Richards.[1]

Football League Second Division

Birmingham began the 1939–40 Football League season in the Second Division, but the onset of the Second World War caused the League to be abandoned after three rounds of Second Division matches had been played. They fielded the same eleven for all three matches: Harry Hibbs, Cyril Trigg, Billy Hughes, James Bye, Arthur Turner, Ray Shaw, Jackie Brown, Don Dearson, Ted Duckhouse, Fred Harris and Tom Farrage. Farrage was killed in action in September 1944, serving as a private in the 10th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment during Operation Market Garden.[5] With two wins and a draw, they stood second in the table, behind Luton Town on goal average.

Match results[6]

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
26 August 1939	Tottenham Hotspur	A	D	1–1	Brown	28,366
30 August 1939	Leicester City	H	W	2–0	Farrage, Sharman og	13,848
2 September 1939	Burnley	H	W	2–0	Dearson, Duckhouse	15,900

League table (part)

Final Second Division table (part)

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1st	Luton Town	3	2	1	0	7	1	7.00	5
2nd	Birmingham	3	2	1	0	5	1	5.00	5
3rd	Leicester City	3	2	0	1	5	2	2.50	4
4th	Coventry City	3	1	2	0	8	6	1.33	4
5th	Plymouth Argyle	3	2	0	1	4	3	1.33	4
Key	Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points
Source	[7]

Midland Regional League

When war was declared in September 1939, the government banned public gatherings until safety implications could be assessed.[8] Most football grounds reopened soon afterwards, even those in built-up or strategically significant areas, but Birmingham's Chief Constable ordered the continued closure of St Andrew's because of its proximity to likely air-raid targets such as the BSA munitions factories.[9] Consequently, Birmingham were forced to play all their away fixtures first, and when this became impossible, to play home fixtures on a neutral ground – the Windmill Ground at Leamington hosted two "home" matches.[6] The matter was first raised in Parliament in November 1939, but the Home Secretary was unwilling to intervene in what he perceived as a local issue outside his jurisdiction.[10] By March 1940, when St Andrew's had for some time been the only football ground in England still closed, the Chief Constable bowed to public pressure, and a crowd of 13,241 witnessed Birmingham's first home game in more than six months, against Walsall in the Midland Regional League.[9]

Match results

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers
21 October 1939	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	W	3–2	Broome, Edwards, Dearson
28 October 1939	Walsall	A	W	2–1	Dennis Jennings, Dearson
4 November 1939	Luton Town	A	W	2–1	Duckhouse, Dearson
11 November 1939	Coventry City	A	L	1–3	Brown
18 November 1939	West Bromwich Albion	A	D	2–2	Brown 2
25 November 1939	Leicester City	A	W	3–1	Jones, Bye, Edwards
2 December 1939	Northampton Town	A	D	1–1	Jones
9 December 1939	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	L	2–6	Broome 2
16 December 1939	Walsall	A	W	2–1	Edwards, Broome
27 December 1939	West Bromwich Albion	A	L	0–3
30 December 1939	Coventry City	H[lower-alpha 1]	L	2–4	Broome, Bodle
13 January 1940	Leicester City	H[lower-alpha 1]	D	3–3	Guest 2, Duckhouse
20 January 1940	Northampton Town	A	L	0–3
10 February 1940	Luton Town	A	L	2–4	Harris, Roberts o.g.
24 February 1940	West Bromwich Albion	A	L	1–6	Edwards
2 March 1940	Leicester City	A	L	1–2	Jones
9 March 1940	Northampton Town	A	W	3–1	Turner pen., Brown, Bodle
16 March 1940	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	L	1–3	Bodle
23 March 1940	Walsall	H	W	2–1	Jones 2
25 March 1940	West Bromwich Albion	A	L	1–4	Duckhouse
26 March 1940	Luton Town	H	W	5–4	Bodle 2, Jones 2, A.E. Godden
30 March 1940	Luton Town	H	W	4–1	Jones, Trigg 2, Bodle
6 April 1940	Coventry City	H	W	2–1	Trigg 2
10 April 1940	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	L	0–1
1 May 1940	Northampton Town	H	W	3–1	Gardner, Bodle, Trigg
20 May 1940	Leicester City	H	D	0–0
5 June 1940	Coventry City	H	D	0–0
8 June 1940	Walsall	H	W	8–1	Bodle 2, Duckworth 2, Jones 2, Brown, Godfrey o.g.

1. Match played at Windmill Ground, Leamington

League table

Final Midland Regional League table

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1st	Wolverhampton Wanderers	28	19	3	6	76	44	1.73	41
2nd	West Bromwich Albion	28	18	4	6	87	51	1.71	40
3rd	Coventry City	28	13	3	12	68	57	1.19	29
4th	Birmingham	28	12	5	11	56	60	0.93	29
5th	Luton Town	28	10	4	14	76	88	0.86	24
6th	Northampton Town	28	7	8	13	48	59	0.81	22
7th	Leicester City	28	7	6	15	51	71	0.72	20
8th	Walsall	28	7	5	16	51	83	0.61	19
Key	Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points
Source	[11]

Football League War Cup

Match results[6][12]

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers
First round first leg	20 April 1940	Newport County	A	D	2–2	Godden 2
First round second leg	27 April 1940	Newport County	H	W	5–2	Trigg 2, Bodle 2, Godden
Second round first leg	4 May 1940	Reading	H	W	2–0	Trigg, Jones
Second round second leg	11 May 1940	Reading	A	W	2–0	Godden, Bodle
Third round	18 May 1940	Arsenal	A[lower-alpha 1]	W	2–1	Godden, Turner
Quarter final	25 May 1940	West Ham United	A	L	2–4	Trigg 2

1. Played at White Hart Lane

Appearances and goals

For a description of the playing formation, see formation (association football)#2–3–5 (Pyramid).

Players marked with an asterisk * were guests, not registered Birmingham players.[13]

Players having played at least one first-team match

Pos.	Nat.	Name	Football League		Midland Regional League		Football League War Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	ENG	Harry Hibbs	3	0	9	0	0	0	12	0
GK	ENG	Gil Merrick	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
GK	ENG	Jack Wheeler	0	0	18	0	6	0	24	0
FB	ENG	Sam Bellamy	0	0	4	0	0	0	4	0
FB	SCO	George Cummings *	—		4	0	0	0	4	0
FB	WAL	Billy Hughes	3	0	17	0	6	0	26	0
FB	ENG	Dennis Jennings	0	0	8	1	0	0	8	1
FB	ENG	Wally Quinton	0	0	18	0	6	0	24	0
FB	ENG	Cyril Trigg	3	0	16	5	6	6	25	0
HB	ENG	Jimmy Allen *	—		1	0	0	0	1	0
HB	ENG	James Bye	3	0	19	1	4	0	26	1
HB	ENG	Fred Deakin	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0
HB	ENG	Ray Devey	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0
HB	ENG	Reg Foulkes	0	0	7	0	0	0	7	0
HB	ENG	Bob Iverson *	—		7	0	0	0	7	0
HB	SCO	Alex Massie *	—		4	0	0	0	4	0
HB	ENG	F.W. Moss	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
HB	ENG	Ray Shaw	3	0	10	0	0	0	13	0
HB	ENG	Arthur Turner	3	0	17	1	6	1	26	2
FW	ENG	J. Bate *	—		1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	ENG	Harold Bodle	0	0	17	9	6	3	23	12
FW	ENG	Frank Broome *	—		7	5	0	0	7	5
FW	ENG	E. Brown	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	IRE	Jackie Brown	3	1	15	5	5	0	23	6
FW	ENG	Charlie Craven	0	0	9	0	0	0	9	0
FW	WAL	Don Dearson	3	1	19	3	5	0	27	4
FW	ENG	Ted Duckhouse	3	1	6	5	0	0	9	6
FW	ENG	George Edwards *	—		10	4	0	0	10	4
FW	ENG	Tom Farrage	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
FW	ENG	Fred Gardner	0	0	2	1	0	0	2	1
FW	ENG	A.E. Godden	0	0	5	1	6	4	11	5
FW	ENG	Billy Guest *	—		6	2	0	0	6	2
FW	ENG	Fred Harris	3	0	19	1	6	0	28	1
FW	WAL	Wilson Jones	0	0	17	10	3	1	17	11
FW	ENG	Dudley Kernick *	—		1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	ENG	Jackie Martin *	—		2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	WAL	Seymour Morris	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	ENG	Frank Moss *	—		2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	ENG	D.W. Rowley	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0

References

General

• Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
• Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
• Rollin, Jack (2005). Soccer at War 1939–45. London: Headline. ISBN 978-0-7553-1431-7.
• Source for kit: "Birmingham City". Historical Football Kits. Dave & Matt Moor. Retrieved 20 February 2019.

Specific

1. "Changes at St Andrew's". Birmingham Daily Post. 23 August 1939. p. 10.
2. "Jack Foster's new job". The Evening News. Portsmouth. 7 July 1939. p. 12.
3. "New regime at St Andrew's". Evening Despatch. Birmingham. 10 August 1939. p. 12.
4. "New regime at St Andrew's". Birmingham Gazette. 15 June 1939. p. 12.
5. "Casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
6. Matthews (1995), Complete Record, p. 236.
7. Jackson, Stuart. "Season 1939–40 (Abandoned)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 19 February 2019.
8. "Closing of places of entertainment. Preventing large assemblies". The Times. London. 4 September 1939. p. 10.
9. Matthews (1995). Complete Record. pp. 21–22.
   Rippon, Anton (2005). Gas Masks for Goal Posts. Football in Britain during the Second World War. Stroud: Sutton. pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-7509-4030-1.
10. "Written Answers (Commons): Civil Defence: Football Matches (Spectators)". Hansard. 353. cc726–7W. 15 November 1939. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
    "Commons Sitting: Civil Defence: Football Prohibition (Birmingham)". Hansard. 357. cc1515–6. 22 February 1940. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
11. Rollin, Soccer at War, p. 238.
12. Rollin, Soccer at War, pp. 248–249.
13. Rollin, Soccer at War, p. 276.