1948–49 Brentford F.C. season

1948–49 was Harry Curtis' 24th and final season as Brentford manager.

Brentford manager Harry Curtis prepared conservatively for the 1948–49 Second Division season, with inside forward Viv Woodward and wing half Paddy Harris being his only veteran additions to the first team squad.[1][2] The Essential Work Order made it almost impossible for the Bees to sign any player aged under 30, due to the club having spent £28,300 (almost double the club's net income, equivalent to £1,094,800 in 2023) on six new players during the previous financial year, with only Jack Chisholm and Fred Monk aged under 30.[3] Curtis elected to build for the future with the signings of young players Les Devonshire, Jimmy Anders, Micky Bull and Billy Dare, but Dare was the only one of the quartet who would go on to make an impact on the first team.[4][5][6] On the eve of the season, it was announced that Curtis would step down from the manager's position at the end of the campaign.[3]

After two wins from the opening seven matches, Curtis signed Leicester City forward Peter McKennan for £8,000.[3] He failed to have an immediate effect on the team's goalscoring problems,[7] but Brentford were able to stay afloat in mid-table due to the low number of goals conceded.[8] Amidst a dire run of form in league matches around the turn of the year,[8] McKennan finally came into form and scored 9 goals in a seven-match spell,[7] firing Brentford into the sixth round of the FA Cup for the second time in four seasons.[9] In the midst of the run was an 8–2 victory over Bury, in which McKennan became the third (and as of September 2023, most recent) Brentford player to score five goals in a Football League match.[8][10] The Bury fixture also marked the first match in charge for player-manager Jackie Gibbons, having replaced Harry Curtis, who remained at Griffin Park until the end of the season as an adviser to Gibbons.[3] Brentford's FA Cup run ended with defeat to Leicester City in the sixth round,[8] with the 38,678 crowd setting a new club record, which still stands as of September 2023.[11]

Brentford's form deserted them in the wake of the FA Cup exit, with just two victories during the remaining 14 league matches of the season.[8] Centre half Ron Greenwood was bought from Bradford Park Avenue for £9,000 in February 1949,[12] with all of the money being recouped following the sale of captain Jack Chisholm to Sheffield United for £16,000 a month later.[13] Advanced preparations for the 1949–50 season continued in April, with the £7,000 purchase of Jackie Goodwin and Wally Quinton from Birmingham City.[3] Brentford slumped to an 18th-place finish, just one point above 21st-place Nottingham Forest.[8] Young forward Billy Dare was blooded in the final two months of the season and showed promise for the future with four goals in the final six matches.[7]

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1948–49 season.

Pos.	Name	Nat.	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Signed in	Notes
Goalkeepers
GK	Joe Crozier		(1914-12-02)2 December 1914 (aged 33)	East Fife	1937
GK	Ted Gaskell		(1916-12-19)19 December 1916 (aged 31)	Buxton	1937
Defenders
DF	Bill Gorman		(1911-01-13)13 January 1911 (aged 37)	Bury	1938
DF	Malky MacDonald		(1913-10-26)26 October 1913 (aged 34)	Kilmarnock	1946	Coach
DF	Roddy Munro		(1920-07-27)27 July 1920 (aged 28)	Rangers	1946
DF	Wally Quinton		(1917-12-13)13 December 1917 (aged 30)	Birmingham City	1949
Midfielders
HB	Ron Greenwood		(1921-11-11)11 November 1921 (aged 26)	Bradford Park Avenue	1949
HB	Tom Manley		(1912-10-07)7 October 1912 (aged 35)	Manchester United	1939
HB	David Nelson		(1918-02-03)3 February 1918 (aged 30)	Fulham	1947
HB	George Paterson		(1914-09-26)26 September 1914 (aged 33)	Celtic	1946
HB	Alan Smith		(1921-10-15)15 October 1921 (aged 26)	Arsenal	1946
Forwards
FW	Peter Buchanan		(1915-10-13)13 October 1915 (aged 32)	Fulham	1947
FW	Billy Dare		(1927-02-14)14 February 1927 (aged 21)	Hendon	1948
FW	Jackie Gibbons		(1914-04-10)10 April 1914 (aged 34)	Bradford Park Avenue	1947	Manager
FW	Dickie Girling		(1922-05-24)24 May 1922 (aged 26)	Crystal Palace	1947
FW	Tony Harper		(1925-05-26)26 May 1925 (aged 23)	Headington United	1948
FW	Peter McKennan		(1918-07-16)16 July 1918 (aged 30)	Leicester City	1948
FW	Doug Keene		(1928-08-30)30 August 1928 (aged 19)	Kingsbury Town	1946
FW	Fred Monk		(1920-10-09)9 October 1920 (aged 27)	Guildford City	1948
FW	Viv Woodward		(1914-05-25)25 May 1914 (aged 34)	Millwall	1948
Players who left the club mid-season
HB	Jack Chisholm (c)		(1924-10-09)9 October 1924 (aged 23)	Tottenham Hotspur	1947	Transferred to Sheffield United
HB	Paddy Harris		(1918-02-20)20 February 1918 (aged 30)	Notts County	1948	Released
FW	Alec Blakeman		(1918-06-11)11 June 1918 (aged 30)	Oxford City	1946	Transferred to Sheffield United

• Sources: 100 Years of Brentford,[7] Timeless Bees[14]

Cricketers are not included in this list.

Players transferred in
Date	Pos.	Name	Previous Club	Fee	Ref.
1 May 1948	FW	Les Devonshire	Queens Park Rangers	n/a	[15]
July 1948	FW	Ron Brown	Blackburn Rovers	n/a	[16]
July 1948	HB	Paddy Harris	Notts County	n/a	[16]
July 1948	FW	Viv Woodward	Millwall	Free	[1]
August 1948	n/a	Ray Jefferies	Oxford City	n/a	[17]
September 1948	FW	Jimmy Anders	Preston North End	n/a	[4]
September 1948	FW	Micky Bull	n/a	n/a	[5]
September 1948	FW	Peter McKennan	Leicester City	£8,000	[3]
19 November 1948	FW	Billy Dare	Hendon	n/a	[18]
1948	FW	Jim Towers	n/a	n/a	[19]
February 1949	HB	Ron Greenwood	Bradford Park Avenue	£9,000	[12]
May 1949	FW	Ken Coote	Wembley	Amateur	[17]
29 April 1949	FW	Jackie Goodwin	Birmingham City	£3,500	[17]
5 May 1949	DF	Wally Quinton	Birmingham City	£3,500	[20]
Players transferred out
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Fee	Ref.
May 1948	FW	Tommy Dawson	Swindon Town	n/a	[21]
May 1948	DF	Harry Oliver	Watford	£2,000	[22]
September 1948	n/a	Tommy Connors	Celtic	n/a	[23]
November 1948	FW	Alec Blakeman	Middlesbrough	n/a	[24]
November 1948	FW	Tommy Dougall	Sunderland	n/a	[25]
March 1949	HB	Jack Chisholm	Sheffield United	£16,000	[13]
Players released
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Join date	Ref.
1949	HB	Paddy Harris	Retired		[2]
May 1949	FW	Peter Buchanan	Headington United	1949	[5]
May 1949	GK	Joe Crozier	Chelmsford City	1949	[26]
May 1949	FW	Les Devonshire	Wealdstone	1949	[27]
May 1949	FW	Jackie Gibbons	Retired		[28]
May 1949	FW	Robert Sherwood	Queens Park Rangers	May 1949	[29]