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1928–29 Southampton F.C. season

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Southampton F.C.
1928–29 season
ChairmanWyndham Portal
ManagerArthur Chadwick
StadiumThe Dell
Second Division4th
FA CupThird round
Top goalscorerLeague: Willie Haines (16)
All: Willie Haines (16)
Highest home attendance24,247 v Chelsea
(9 March 1929)
Lowest home attendance6,510 v Swansea Town
(4 May 1929)
Average home league attendance15,164

The 1928–29 season was the 34th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's seventh in the Second Division of the Football League. After finishing in the bottom half of the Second Division league table the last three seasons, the club returned to challenging for promotion to the First Division when they finished fourth, their highest position in the league to date. The team were strong throughout the campaign, picking up key wins over teams around them in the table to secure a strong position. They stayed in the top six of the league for most of the campaign from September, reaching third place on two occasions and dropping to seventh just twice. Southampton finished the season in fourth place with 17 wins, 14 draws and 11 losses, five points behind Grimsby Town in the first promotion place.

In the 1928–29 FA Cup, Southampton entered in the third round at home to divisional rivals Clapton Orient. After a goalless draw at The Dell, the sides played a replay at Clapton Stadium which the hosts won 2–1, eliminating the Saints at the first hurdle for the third time in four seasons. The club ended the 1928–29 season with two games against local rivals Portsmouth, for the Rowland Hospital Cup and the Hampshire Benevolent Cup. The Saints won both games, the former 2–1 at Fratton Park and the latter 3–2 at The Dell, marking the first time they had won both tournaments in a season. Southampton also played three friendly matches during the season, all in April 1929, beating Southern League side Guildford City, Wiltshire County League side Warminster Town and Dorset League side Wimborne Town.

Southampton used 25 different players during the 1928–29 season and had 14 different goalscorers. Their top scorer was centre-forward Willie Haines, who scored 16 goals in the Second Division. Outside-left Stan Cribb scored 13 times in the league, followed by inside-right Jerry Mackie with ten goals. Twelve players were signed by the club during the campaign, with seven released and sold to other clubs. The average attendance at The Dell during the 1928–29 season was 15,164. The highest attendance was 24,247 against Chelsea on 9 March 1929, which set a new league record for the stadium. The lowest attendance of the season was 6,510 against Swansea Town on 4 May 1929, in the last league game of the season. After the last game, the East Stand of The Dell burned down and had to be rebuilt.

Background and transfers

Southampton conducted a large amount of transfer activity throughout the 1928–29 season. The club's first signing in the summer was Portsmouth centre-forward Willie Haines, who joined from the First Division side having scored 119 goals in 164 league appearances.[1] In June, Southampton manager Arthur Chadwick brought in centre-half Bill Stoddart from Third Division South side Coventry City, trading mainstay goalkeeper Tommy Allen and outside-right Bill Henderson for his services.[2] Two months later, Scottish goalkeeper Willie White was signed from Heart of Midlothian as Allen's replacement, costing the Saints £800.[3] In June, outside-right Cuthbert Coundon was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £150,[4] and inside-left Sam Taylor joined Halifax Town in the Third Division North.[5] Right-back James Ellison left the Saints for Rochdale in July.[6] In August, the club signed outside-right Bert Jepson from Huddersfield Town,[7] as well as trialist Tom Sloan from Craghead United (he left a month later).[8]

Transfers continued throughout the season for Southampton. In September the club signed outside-left Johnny Arnold from Oxford City,[9] and in October they brought in inside-left Herbert Coates from the Royal Navy.[10] Before the end of the year the club also signed Newport County centre-forward Archie Waterston,[11] and broke their transfer record with the £1,000 signing of outside-right Bobby Weale from Swindon Town.[12] Due to ongoing injury problems for his side's regular centre-forward Haines, in February 1929 Chadwick brought in former Royal Air Force aircraftsman Douglas Vernon to help with the end of season run-in.[13] The final signings of the season were goalkeeper Bert Scriven from Totton and inside-left Ernie Warren from Third Division North side Lincoln City in March 1929.[14][11] During the season, "big offers" had also been made by various clubs to sign players including Ted Hough, Arthur Bradford, Stan Cribb and Dick Rowley, although the club's directors had "wisely resisted" them.[15]

Players transferred in

Name Nationality Pos. Club Date Ref.
Willie Haines  England FW England Portsmouth May 1928 [1]
Bill Stoddart  England HB England Coventry City June 1928 [2]
Willie White  Scotland GK Scotland Heart of Midlothian July 1928 [3]
Bert Jepson  England FW England Huddersfield Town August 1928 [7]
Tom Sloan  England FW England Craghead United August 1928 (trial) [8]
Johnny Arnold  England FW England Oxford City September 1928 [9]
Herbert Coates  England FW England Royal Navy October 1928 [10]
Archie Waterston  Scotland FW Wales Newport County December 1928 [11]
Bobby Weale  Wales FW England Swindon Town December 1928 [12]
Douglas Vernon  England FW England Royal Air Force February 1929 [13]
Bert Scriven  England GK England Totton March 1929 [14]
Ernie Warren  England FW England Lincoln City March 1929 [11]

Players transferred out

Name Nationality Pos. Club Date Ref.
Jack Mitton  England FW none (later played amateur football) May 1928 [16]
Tommy Allen  England GK England Coventry City June 1928 [17]
Cuthbert Coundon  England FW England Wolverhampton Wanderers June 1928 [4]
Bill Henderson  England FW England Coventry City June 1928 [18]
Sam Taylor  England FW England Halifax Town June 1928 [5]
James Ellison  England FB England Rochdale July 1928 [6]
Tom Sloan  England FW England Walker Celtic September 1928 [8]

Second Division

After a slow start to the 1928–29 season in which they picked up just two points in their opening three fixtures, Southampton won five games in a row to secure a top five place in the table by the end of September.[19][20] The run included a 2–1 defeat of recently relegated side Middlesbrough, home and away wins over Port Vale, and a 4–0 besting of Preston North End, who had finished just four points shy of promotion to the First Division the previous season.[19][21] A largely winless run followed starting on 6 October, during which time the Saints picked up ten draws in thirteen games.[19] The club's only win during this period was an 8–2 thrashing of Blackpool at The Dell, who had avoided relegation by just one point the previous year.[21] Half of Southampton's goals against the Seasiders were scored by recent signing Willie Haines, who in doing so became the first player for the club to score more than three in a Second Division match.[15] After two more wins, Southampton found themselves in fourth place at the end of the year.[22]

Despite winning just one of their three matches during the month, in January the Saints moved up to third in the table, keeping up with leaders Chelsea and Middlesbrough.[23] 2–1 wins over struggling sides Bristol City and Wolverhampton Wanderers in February helped them to remain in the running,[19] holding off fellow challengers Grimsby Town who were in the middle of a five-game winning run.[24] However, the team began struggling for goals due to Haines being injured, with his replacement Douglas Vernon failing to score in his five league appearances.[13] A string of three consecutive losses in March saw the team as low as seventh in the table, although wins over Nottingham Forest and Millwall at the tail end of the month brought them back into the top four.[19][25] Southampton continued to pick up wins, but Grimsby's ongoing form saw them pull ahead of the Saints and third-placed Bradford Park Avenue; the club finished in fourth with 17 wins, 14 draws and 11 losses, five points behind the first promotion place.[19]

List of match results

25 August 1928 1 Hull City 2–2 Southampton Kingston upon Hull
Keeping
Petrie
Stadium: Anlaby Road
Attendance: 9,000
27 August 1928 2 Southampton 1–2 Port Vale Southampton
Taylor Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 12,000
1 September 1928 3 Southampton 1–1 Tottenham Hotspur Southampton
Taylor Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 22,961
8 September 1928 4 Reading 0–1 Southampton Reading
Cribb Stadium: Elm Park
Attendance: 19,000
15 September 1928 5 Southampton 4–0 Preston North End Southampton
Shelley
Haines
Petrie
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 17,011
22 September 1928 6 Middlesbrough 1–2 Southampton Middlesbrough
Haines
Cribb
Stadium: Ayresome Park
Attendance: 12,000
24 September 1928 7 Port Vale 1–2 Southampton Hanley
Mackie Stadium: Old Recreation Ground
Attendance: 7,344
29 September 1928 8 Southampton 2–1 Oldham Athletic Southampton
Cribb Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 16,945
6 October 1928 9 Bristol City 1–1 Southampton Bristol
Haines Stadium: Ashton Gate Stadium
Attendance: 15,000
13 October 1928 10 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–1 Southampton Wolverhampton
Haines Stadium: Molineux Stadium
Attendance: 15,000
20 October 1928 11 Southampton 1–2 Barnsley Southampton
Haines Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 15,847
27 October 1928 12 Chelsea 1–1 Southampton London
Cribb Stadium: Stamford Bridge
Attendance: 35,000
3 November 1928 13 Southampton 8–2 Blackpool Southampton
Haines
Mackie
Cribb
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 15,146
10 November 1928 14 Nottingham Forest 1–1 Southampton West Bridgford
Rowley Stadium: City Ground
Attendance: 5,000
17 November 1928 15 Southampton 2–2 Bradford Park Avenue Southampton
Jepson
Rowley
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 14,657
24 November 1928 16 Grimsby Town 2–1 Southampton Cleethorpes
Rowley Stadium: Blundell Park
Attendance: 7,000
1 December 1928 17 Southampton 0–0 Stoke City Southampton
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 14,218
8 December 1928 18 Clapton Orient 1–1 Southampton London
Murphy Stadium: Clapton Stadium
Attendance: 11,000
15 December 1928 19 Southampton 1–1 West Bromwich Albion Southampton
Rowley Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 13,509
22 December 1928 20 Swansea Town 1–1 Southampton Swansea
Mackie Stadium: Vetch Field
Attendance: 5,000
25 December 1928 21 Notts County 1–1 Southampton Nottingham
Haines Stadium: Meadow Lane
Attendance: 21,865
26 December 1928 22 Southampton 4–0 Notts County Southampton
Weale
Rowley
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 20,441
29 December 1928 23 Southampton 3–2 Hull City Southampton
Weale
Waterston
Rowley
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 18,765
5 January 1929 24 Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 Southampton London
Weale
Bradford
Stadium: White Hart Lane
Attendance: 25,000
19 January 1929 25 Southampton 2–2 Reading Southampton
Coates
Cribb
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 15,775
26 January 1929 26 Preston North End 0–1 Southampton Preston
Cribb Stadium: Deepdale
Attendance: 11,000
2 February 1929 27 Southampton 1–1 Middlesbrough Southampton
Cribb Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 13,608
9 February 1929 28 Oldham Athletic 3–1 Southampton Oldham
Weale Stadium: Boundary Park
Attendance: 14,000
16 February 1929 29 Southampton 2–1 Bristol City Southampton
Mackie
Cribb
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 10,095
23 February 1929 30 Southampton 2–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Southampton
Mackie
Coates
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 12,478
2 March 1929 31 Barnsley 4–1 Southampton Barnsley
Rowley Stadium: Oakwell
Attendance: 4,000
9 March 1929 32 Southampton 1–2 Chelsea Southampton
Mackie Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 24,247
16 March 1929 33 Blackpool 3–0 Southampton Blackpool
Stadium: Bloomfield Road
Attendance: 10,000
23 March 1929 34 Southampton 2–1 Nottingham Forest Southampton
Mackie
Cribb
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 10,292
29 March 1929 35 Millwall 2–4 Southampton London
Rowley
Jepson
Mackie
Stadium: The Den
Attendance: 21,817
30 March 1929 36 Bradford Park Avenue 4–1 Southampton Bradford
Haines Stadium: Park Avenue
Attendance: 11,000
1 April 1929 37 Southampton 3–0 Millwall Southampton
Jepson
Haines
Coates
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 17,368
6 April 1929 38 Southampton 3–1 Grimsby Town Southampton
Haines
Coates
Cribb
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 17,700
13 April 1929 39 Stoke City 3–0 Southampton Stoke-on-Trent
Stadium: Victoria Ground
Attendance: 11,000
20 April 1929 40 Southampton 2–0 Clapton Orient Southampton
Haines
Coates
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 8,890
27 April 1929 41 West Bromwich Albion 3–1 Southampton West Bromwich
Coates Stadium: The Hawthorns
Attendance: 10,024
4 May 1929 42 Southampton 3–0 Swansea Town Southampton
Jepson
Haines
Coates
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 6,510

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Promotion or relegation
2 Grimsby Town 42 24 5 13 82 61 1.344 53 Promoted
3 Bradford Park Avenue 42 22 4 16 88 70 1.257 48
4 Southampton 42 17 14 11 74 60 1.233 48
5 Notts County 42 19 9 14 78 65 1.200 47
6 Stoke City 42 17 12 13 74 51 1.451 46
Source: [citation needed]

Results by matchday

Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142
GroundAHHAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAH
ResultDLDWWWWWDDLDWDDLDDDDDWWLDWDLWWLLLWWLWWLWLW
Position1015141087555455444455676544433533457645444454
Source: 11v11.com[26]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

FA Cup

Southampton entered the 1928–29 FA Cup in the third round against fellow Second Division side Clapton Orient. Drawn at The Dell, the game ended goalless as Dick Rowley hit the post and top scorer Willie Haines had "a poor game at centre-forward".[15] The replay at Clapton Stadium started well for the Saints, who went ahead through Arthur Bradford and almost doubled their lead courtesy of Stan Cribb. However, the hosts equalised before the end of the first half and continued to pressurise the visitors throughout the second, eventually scoring a second past deputising goalkeeper George Thompson.[15]

12 January 1929 Round 3 Southampton 0–0 Clapton Orient Southampton
Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 15,000
17 January 1929 Round 3 Replay Clapton Orient 2–1 Southampton London
Bradford Stadium: Clapton Stadium
Attendance: 10,000

Other matches

Outside of the league and the FA Cup, Southampton played five additional first-team matches during the 1928–29 season. The first was a friendly match against Southern League side Guildford City on 17 April, which ended in a 2–1 win to the visiting Saints thanks to goals from Willie Haines and Johnny Arnold.[27] Five days later the club played another away friendly, this time against Warminster Town of the Wiltshire County League. The Saints won comfortably 6–1, with Haines (three), Arthur Bradford, Stan Cribb and Stan Woodhouse all getting on the scoresheet.[27] A third friendly followed a week later against Dorset League club Wimborne Town. Southampton picked up another convincing win when they beat the Magpies 6–2, Haines and Dick Rowley scoring two each, and Arnold and Bobby Weale scoring the other two.[27]

As usual, the club ended the season with two matches against local rivals Portsmouth. The first, for the Rowland Hospital Cup, saw the Saints edge Pompey 2–1 at Fratton Park, with goals from Rowley and Bert Jepson enough to hold off the hosts despite a controversial headed goal from Jack Smith, which had reportedly failed to cross the line.[28] Southampton also won the Hampshire Benevolent Cup two days later, beating Pompey at The Dell 3–2. Jimmy Easson opened the scoring for the visitors within five minutes, before an Arthur Bradford penalty made it 1–1 going into half-time.[29] After the break, Rowley scored Southampton's second and set up the third for Herbert Coates, giving the hosts enough despite a second late goal from Easson (another controversial goal, as he was claimed to have been offside).[29]

17 April 1929 Friendly Guildford City 1–3 Southampton Guildford
Haines
Arnold
Stadium: Joseph's Road
22 April 1929 Friendly Warminster Town 1–6 Southampton Warminster
Haines
Bradford
Cribb
Woodhouse
Stadium: Weymouth Street
29 April 1929 Friendly Wimborne Town 2–6 Southampton Wimborne Minster
Haines
Rowley
Arnold
Weale
Stadium: The Cuthbury
6 May 1929 Rowland Hospital Cup Portsmouth 1–2 Southampton Portsmouth
J. Smith Rowley
Jepson
Stadium: Fratton Park
Referee: W. B. Stone
8 May 1929 Hampshire BC Southampton 3–2 Portsmouth Southampton
Bradford (pen.)
Rowley
Coates
Easson 5', 90' Stadium: The Dell
Attendance: 2,154
Referee: W. B. Stone

Player details

Southampton used 25 different players during the 1928–29 season, 14 of whom scored during the campaign. The team played in a 2–3–5 formation throughout, using two full-backs, three half-backs, two outside forwards, two inside forwards and a centre-forward.[19] Right-half Bert Shelley and goalkeeper Willie White made the most appearances for the club during the campaign, the former appearing in all but one league game and the end-of-season cups, and the latter playing in all but two league games and the FA Cup third round replay. Jerry Mackie and Stan Woodhouse both made 40 appearances in total during the season.[19] Centre-forward Willie Haines finished as the season's top scorer with 16 goals, all in the Second Division. Outside-left Stan Cribb scored 13 league goals, followed by Dick Rowley who scored nine in the league and one each in the Rowland Hospital Cup and Hampshire Benevolent Cup.[19][28][29] Arthur Bradford was the season's highest-scoring half-back, with three goals in all competitions.[19][29]

Squad statistics

Name Pos. Nat. League FA Cup Other[a] Total
Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls.
Bill Adams HB England 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
Johnny Arnold FW England 5 0 0 0 1 0 6 0
Arthur Bradford HB England 29 1 1 1 2 1 32 3
Herbert Coates FW England 14 7 0 0 2 1 16 8
Stan Cribb FW England 31 13 2 0 1 0 34 13
Willie Haines FW England 27 16 1 0 0 0 28 16
George Harkus HB England 25 0 1 0 2 0 28 0
Ted Hough FB England 33 0 2 0 2 0 37 0
Bert Jepson FW England 18 4 0 0 2 1 20 5
Michael Keeping FB England 37 1 2 0 0 0 39 1
Bill Luckett HB England 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Jerry Mackie FW Scotland 40 10 2 0 0 0 42 10
Billy Murphy FW England 6 1 0 0 0 0 6 1
Charlie Petrie FW England 9 2 0 0 0 0 9 2
Dick Rowley FW Republic of Ireland 24 9 2 0 2 2 28 11
Bert Shelley HB England 41 1 2 0 0 0 43 1
Bill Stoddart HB England 4 0 0 0 2 0 6 0
Tommy Taylor FW England 4 2 0 0 0 0 4 2
George Thompson GK England 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 0
Douglas Vernon FW England 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Archie Waterston FW Scotland 6 1 1 0 0 0 7 1
Bobby Weale FW Wales 18 6 2 0 0 0 20 6
Willie White GK Scotland 40 0 1 0 2 0 43 0
Stan Woodhouse HB England 38 0 2 0 2 0 42 0
Players with appearances who left before the end of the season
Tom Sloan FW England 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Notes

  1. ^ Includes the Rowland Hospital Cup and Hampshire Benevolent Cup matches.

Most appearances

Rank Name Pos. League FA Cup Other Total
Apps. % Apps. % Apps. % Apps. %
1 Bert Shelley HB 41 97.62 2 100.00 0 0.00 43 93.48
Willie White GK 40 95.24 1 50.00 2 100.00 43 93.48
3 Jerry Mackie FW 40 95.24 2 100.00 0 0.00 42 91.30
Stan Woodhouse HB 38 90.48 2 100.00 2 100.00 42 91.30
5 Michael Keeping FB 37 88.10 2 100.00 0 0.00 39 84.78
6 Ted Hough FB 33 78.57 2 100.00 2 100.00 37 80.43
7 Stan Cribb FW 31 73.81 2 100.00 1 50.00 34 73.91
8 Arthur Bradford HB 29 69.05 1 50.00 2 100.00 32 69.57
9 Willie Haines FW 27 64.29 1 50.00 0 0.00 28 60.87
George Harkus HB 25 59.52 1 50.00 2 100.00 28 60.87
Dick Rowley FW 24 57.14 2 100.00 2 100.00 28 60.87

Top goalscorers

Rank Name Pos. League FA Cup Other Total
Gls. GPG Gls. GPG Gls. GPG Gls. GPG
1 Willie Haines FW 16 0.59 0 0.00 0 0.00 16 0.57
2 Stan Cribb FW 13 0.41 0 0.00 0 0.00 13 0.38
3 Dick Rowley FW 9 0.37 0 0.00 2 1.00 11 0.39
4 Jerry Mackie FW 10 0.25 0 0.00 0 0.00 10 0.23
5 Herbert Coates FW 7 0.50 0 0.00 1 0.50 8 0.50
6 Bobby Weale FW 6 0.33 0 0.00 0 0.00 6 0.30
7 Bert Jepson FW 4 0.22 0 0.00 1 0.50 5 0.25
8 Arthur Bradford HB 1 0.03 1 1.00 1 0.50 3 0.09
9 Tommy Taylor FW 2 0.50 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 0.50
Charlie Petrie FW 2 0.22 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 0.22

References

  • Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (10 August 1987), A Complete Record of Southampton Football Club: 1885–1987, Derby, England: Breedon Books, ISBN 978-0907969228
  • Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (28 November 2013), All the Saints: A Complete Who's Who of Southampton FC, Bristol, England: Hagiology Publishing, ISBN 978-0992686406
  • Juson, Dave; Aldworth, Clay; Bendel, Barry; Bull, David; Chalk, Gary (10 November 2004), Saints v Pompey: A History of Unrelenting Rivalry, Bristol, England: Hagiology Publishing, ISBN 978-0953447459{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Footnotes