Knowledge (XXG)

Colchester United

1954–55 season
Chairman	Bill Allen
Manager	Jack Butler (until 14 January) Alf Miller & Claude Orrin (January to March) Benny Fenton (from March)
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division South	24th (re-elected)
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Reading)
Top goalscorer	League: Ken Plant (13) All: Ken Plant (13)
Highest home attendance	10,809 v Southend United, 8 April 1955
Lowest home attendance	3,517 v Torquay United, 31 March 1955
Average home league attendance	7,284
Biggest win	4–1 v Northampton Town, 4 September 1954
Biggest defeat	1–6 v Northampton Town, 18 April 1955
Home colours
← 1953–54 1955–56 →

The 1954–55 season was Colchester United's 13th season in their history and their fifth season in the Third Division South, the third tier of English football. Alongside competing in the Third Division South, the club also participated in the FA Cup. Following a replay, Colchester were knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round by Reading. Meanwhile, in the league, Colchester's poor run of form had Jack Butler allowed indefinite leave following a bout of ill health. After resigning in January 1955, Colchester appointed Benny Fenton as his replacement, and despite an upturn in form, a run of defeats at the end of the season meant Colchester needed to apply for re-election for the second successive season. Once more, all clubs applying for re-election were successful, with Colchester receiving 44 votes, behind Third Division North clubs Grimsby Town (49 votes) and Chester City (47 votes), but eleven votes ahead of division rivals Walsall.

Eight successive league defeats from October to December saw Colchester bottom of the league for Christmas Day, and the plight of the club had begun to have an effect on the health of manager Jack Butler. After falling ill in November, Butler was handed indefinite leave until by the club until the end of his contract in 1956. Suffering from a mental breakdown, Butler eventually resigned on 14 January 1955, while club secretary Claude Orrin was charged with finding a new manager.

During this transitional period, Orrin and Alf Miller took charge of the first-team, before appointing Benny Fenton as manager after attracting 48 applications for the vacancy. Despite a brief boost in on-field fortunes in March and early April, performances tailed off as Colchester picked up just one point in the final eight games of the campaign. The club finished bottom of the Football League and were again required to seek re-election, in which they were successful.

As of match played 4 May 1955.

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
George Wright	GK		Plymouth	(1919-10-10)10 October 1919 (aged 34)	205	0	Plymouth Argyle	May 1949	£1,000
John Wright	GK		Aldershot	(1933-08-13)13 August 1933 (aged 20)	0	0	Colchester Casuals	23 May 1952	Free transfer
Defenders
Roy Bicknell	CB		Doncaster	(1926-02-19)19 February 1926 (aged 28)	29	0	Gravesend & Northfleet	June 1952	£1,000
George French	FB		Colchester	(1926-11-10)10 November 1926 (aged 27)	3	0	West Ham United	February 1949	Free transfer
John Harrison	FB		Leicester	(1927-09-27)27 September 1927 (aged 26)	170	0	Aston Villa	30 September 1950	Nominal
Billy Hunt	CB		Colchester	(1934-11-25)25 November 1934 (aged 19)	0	0	Amateur	August 1953	Free transfer
Digger Kettle	FB		Colchester	(1922-06-03)3 June 1922 (aged 31)	172	1	Arclight Sports	September 1946	Free transfer
Fred Lewis	FB		Broughton Gifford	(1923-07-26)26 July 1923 (aged 30)	48	0	Chelsea	Summer 1953	Free transfer
Reg Stewart	CB		Sheffield	(1925-10-30)30 October 1925 (aged 28)	218	0	Sheffield Wednesday	20 August 1949	£1,000
Midfielders
Bob Dale	WH		Irlam	(1931-10-31)31 October 1931 (aged 22)	21	4	Bury	24 December 1953	£1,500
Austin Dunne	WH		Limerick	(1934-07-31)31 July 1934 (aged 19)	0	0	Limerick	October 1953	Free transfer
Jimmy Elder	WH		Scone	(1928-03-05)5 March 1928 (aged 26)	182	14	Portsmouth	19 August 1950	£1,000
Benny Fenton	WH		West Ham	(1918-10-10)10 October 1918 (aged 35)	0	0	Charlton Athletic	5 March 1955	£500
Trevor Harris	WH		Colchester	(1936-02-06)6 February 1936 (aged 18)	0	0	Amateur	July 1951	Free transfer
Bert Hill	WH		West Ham	(1930-03-08)8 March 1930 (aged 24)	17	1	Chelsea	September 1952	£300
Ron Hunt	WH		Colchester	(1933-09-26)26 September 1933 (aged 20)	5	0	Amateur	October 1951	Free transfer
Forwards
Cliff Birch	WG		Newport	(1928-09-01)1 September 1928 (aged 25)	0	0	Newport County	June 1954	£1,000
Mike Grice	WG		Woking	(1931-11-03)3 November 1931 (aged 22)	31	3	Lowestoft Town	Summer 1952	£25
Paddy Leonard	IF		Dublin	(1929-07-25)25 July 1929 (aged 24)	0	0	Bristol Rovers	July 1954	Free transfer
Kevin McCurley	CF		Consett	(1926-04-02)2 April 1926 (aged 28)	92	34	Liverpool	June 1951	£750
Johnny McKim	IF		Greenock	(1926-01-22)22 January 1926 (aged 28)	103	39	Chelsea	19 August 1950	£1,000
Ken Plant	CF		Nuneaton	(1925-08-15)15 August 1925 (aged 28)	17	6	Bury	January 1954	Undisclosed
Peter Wright	WG		Colchester	(1934-01-26)26 January 1934 (aged 20)	44	4	Amateur	November 1951	Free transfer

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1954	GK		Jimmy Kirk	Bury	Free transfer
Summer 1954	FB		Ron George	Crystal Palace	Free transfer
June 1954	WH		Frank McCourt	Manchester City	Nominal
June 1954	WG		Cliff Birch	Newport County	£1,000
July 1954	IF		Paddy Leonard	Bristol Rovers	Free transfer
5 March 1955	WH		Benny Fenton	Charlton Athletic	£500

• Total spending: ~ £1,500

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1954	GK		Frank Coombs	Gravesend & Northfleet	Released
Summer 1954	WH		Doug Keene	Dartford	Released
Summer 1954	WG		John Church	Crittall Athletic	Released
31 May 1954	WH		Harry Bearryman	Metropolitan Police	Free transfer
6 November 1954	WG		Peter Aitchison	Sittingbourne	Free transfer
5 February 1955	FB		Ron George	Sudbury Town	Free transfer
19 February 1955	WH		Frank McCourt	Poole Town	Released
28 April 1955	GK		Jimmy Kirk	Torquay United	Free transfer

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Promotion or relegation
20	Crystal Palace	46	11	16	19	52	80	0.650	38
21	Swindon Town	46	11	15	20	46	64	0.719	37
22	Exeter City	46	11	15	20	47	73	0.644	37
23	Walsall	46	10	14	22	75	86	0.872	34	Re-elected
24	Colchester United	46	9	13	24	53	91	0.582	31

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	George Wright	14	0	12	0	2	0
	GK	ENG	John Wright	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	John Harrison	35	0	35	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Digger Kettle	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Fred Lewis	41	0	39	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Reg Stewart	47	1	45	1	2	0
	MF	ENG	Bob Dale	34	4	34	4	0	0
	MF	IRL	Austin Dunne	1	0	1	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Jimmy Elder	30	3	28	2	2	1
	MF	ENG	Benny Fenton	11	2	11	2	0	0
	MF	ENG	Trevor Harris	1	0	1	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Bert Hill	21	0	19	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Ron Hunt	26	0	26	0	0	0
	FW	WAL	Cliff Birch	14	4	12	3	2	1
	FW	ENG	Mike Grice	40	7	38	6	2	1
	FW	IRL	Paddy Leonard	34	5	34	5	0	0
	FW	ENG	Kevin McCurley	18	1	16	1	2	0
	FW	SCO	Johnny McKim	34	8	32	7	2	1
	FW	ENG	Ken Plant	42	13	40	13	2	0
	FW	ENG	Peter Wright	23	9	23	9	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	GK	SCO	Jimmy Kirk	32	0	32	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Ron George	8	0	6	0	2	0
	MF	NIR	Frank McCourt	12	0	12	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Peter Aitchison	6	0	6	0	0	0

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		CF	Ken Plant	13	0	13
2		WG	Peter Wright	9	0	9
3		IF	Johnny McKim	7	1	8
4		WG	Mike Grice	6	1	7
5		IF	Paddy Leonard	5	0	5
6		WG	Cliff Birch	3	1	4
		WH	Bob Dale	4	0	4
8		WH	Jimmy Elder	2	1	3
9		WH	Benny Fenton	2	0	2
10		CF	Kevin McCurley	1	0	1
		CB	Reg Stewart	1	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0
			TOTALS	53	4	57

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		Jimmy Kirk	7	0	7
2		George Wright	4	0	4
		TOTALS	11	0	11

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
GK		Jimmy Kirk	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
WH		Frank McCourt	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
WG		Cliff Birch	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
IF		Paddy Leonard	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
FB		Ron George	16 October 1954	Brentford	Griffin Park
WH		Benny Fenton	5 March 1955	Brentford	Layer Road
WH		Austin Dunne	9 April 1955	Gillingham	Priestfield
WH		Trevor Harris	18 April 1955	Northampton Town	County Ground
GK		John Wright	30 April 1955	Southampton	Layer Road

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

Books

• Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.
• Ambrosen, Tony (1993). Amber in the Blood: A History Of Newport County. Uxbridge: Yore Publications. ISBN 978-1-874427-40-7.
• White, Eric (1989). 100 Years of Brentford. Redditch: Oldfield Press. ISBN 0951526200.

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1955". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
• "Statistics 1954/55". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
• "1950/51 to 1959/60" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.

Categories:

• Colchester United F.C. seasons
• English football clubs 1954–55 season