1959–60 season of Brentford F.C.
Brentford 1959–60 football season
During the 1959–60 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Third Division . A strong run in the final 13 matches of the season lifted the Bees from mid-table to a 6th-place finish.
Season summary [ edit ] After two strong pushes for promotion from the Third Division , Brentford manager Malky MacDonald conducted little transfer business in the 1959 off-season, with his main signing being that of former Chelsea centre half Bill Livingstone as cover for the injured Ian Dargie . However, two youngsters MacDonald signed from Scotland in June and July 1959 between them would go on to make nearly 700 appearances for the club – Tommy Higginson and John Docherty . As a testament how little the squad had changed over the previous three years, by the end of the season MacDonald had 12 players on the books who had all made over 100 appearances for Brentford – Cakebread , Wilson , Horne , Coote , Bristow , Goundry , Dargie, Parsons , Heath , Rainford , Francis and Towers .
Despite runs of one defeat in seven matches in August and September 1959 and six wins in seven matches in October, Brentford had uneven first half of the season and were rooted firmly in mid-table at the turn of the year.[2] Jim Towers became the Bees' record Football League goalscorer courtesy of a hattrick in a 3–0 defeat of Accrington Stanley on 24 October 1959 and he had taken 19 fewer matches to pass Jack Holliday 's record. Towers' strike partner George Francis followed up with a hattrick in a 4–2 derby victory over rivals Queens Park Rangers and eclipsed that performance with a four-goal haul in a 5–0 FA Cup first round victory over non-league club Ashford Town on 14 November.[3] With the Brentford's so-so league form, the FA Cup looked to be the focus of the Bees' efforts, but they met their end in the following round versus Fourth Division club Exeter City .[3]
Brentford welcomed the 1960s with a 2–0 defeat to the eventual-promoted side Southampton at The Dell on 2 January 1960 and continued to muddle through to March, when a 1–0 victory over Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic on the 5th of the month kicked off a strong run which would last until the end of the season.[3] In the remaining 13 matches of the campaign, George Francis and Jim Towers each scored eight goals to fire Brentford to a 6th-place finish.[3] Francis ended the season as top scorer with 31 goals, the second time he had managed to better his fellow "Terrible Twin" Towers' total.[3]
League table [ edit ]
Results [ edit ] Brentford's goal tally listed first. No. Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorer(s) Notes 1 22 August 1959 Barnsley A 2–1 7,418 Francis (2) 2 25 August 1959 Wrexham H 3–1 16,970 Francis , Rainford , Towers (pen ) 3 29 August 1959 Southampton H 2–2 15,740 Rainford (2) 4 2 September 1959 Wrexham A 2–3 13,112 Towers , McLeod (pen ) 5 5 September 1959 Reading A 3–3 13,523 Francis (2), Heath 6 8 September 1959 Bury H 1–1 16,000 Rainford 7 12 September 1959 Shrewsbury Town H 2–1 12,500 Towers , McLeod 8 15 September 1959 Bury A 0–1 13,048 9 19 September 1959 Port Vale A 1–3 12,817 Francis 10 22 September 1959 Halifax Town H 1–1 15,700 Francis 11 26 September 1959 Norwich City H 3–4 21,600 Towers (2), Heath 12 28 September 1959 Halifax Town A 0–1 7,654 13 3 October 1959 Grimsby Town A 3–1 11,209 Francis , Rainford (2) 14 6 October 1959 Colchester United H 2–0 14,750 Francis , Towers 15 10 October 1959 Tranmere Rovers H 2–1 11,481 Rainford , Francis 16 12 October 1959 Colchester United A 1–2 7,790 Francis 17 17 October 1959 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic A 2–1 12,226 Towers , Hales 18 24 October 1959 Accrington Stanley H 3–0 12,700 Towers (3) 19 31 October 1959 Queens Park Rangers A 4–2 19,430 Francis (3), Towers 20 21 November 1959 York City H 1–2 13,100 McLeod (pen ) 21 28 November 1959 Coventry City A 1–2 14,959 Towers 22 12 December 1959 Newport County A 2–4 9,401 Goundry , Towers 23 19 December 1959 Barnsley H 3–0 6,500 Towers , Francis , Parsons 24 26 December 1959 Southend United A 0–2 11,694 25 28 December 1959 Southend United H 3–1 11,750 Parsons (pen ), Hales , Rainford 26 2 January 1960 Southampton A 0–2 16,993 27 9 January 1960 Swindon Town A 0–0 8,633 28 16 January 1960 Reading H 2–2 9,200 Francis , Parsons 29 23 January 1960 Shrewsbury Town A 1–1 6,997 Wallace (og ) 30 6 February 1960 Port Vale H 2–0 10,100 Towers , Francis 31 13 February 1960 Norwich City A 1–2 22,388 Francis 32 20 February 1960 Grimsby Town H 0–2 10,900 33 27 February 1960 Tranmere Rovers A 1–2 8,053 Parsons 34 5 March 1960 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic H 1–0 9,750 Francis 35 8 March 1960 Chesterfield H 3–0 6,300 Bristow , McLeod (pen ), Towers 36 11 March 1960 Accrington Stanley A 4–3 3,500 Parsons , Towers , Francis (2) 37 19 March 1960 Coventry City H 3–1 9,900 Francis (2), Bristow 38 26 March 1960 Chesterfield A 0–1 4,363 [nb 1] 39 2 April 1960 Swindon Town H 2–1 8,550 Towers , Higgins (og ) 40 9 April 1960 York City A 1–0 4,608 Towers 41 15 April 1960 Mansfield Town H 1–1 9,575 Francis 42 16 April 1960 Queens Park Rangers H 1–1 16,000 Towers 43 18 April 1960 Mansfield Town A 1–0 7,626 Parsons 44 23 April 1960 Bradford City A 2–0 6,509 Francis , Goundry 45 30 April 1960 Newport County H 1–2 7,900 Towers 46 3 May 1960 Bradford City H 4–0 7,200 Hales , Towers (2), Francis
Playing squad [ edit ] Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1959–60 season. Sources: 100 Years Of Brentford,[3] Timeless Bees[4] Coaching staff [ edit ] Statistics [ edit ] Appearances and goals [ edit ] Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Football League season.
Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years Of Brentford[3] Goalscorers [ edit ] Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years Of Brentford[3] Management [ edit ] Name Nat From To Record All Comps Record League P W D L W % P W D L W % Malky MacDonald 22 August 1959 3 May 1960 48 22 9 17 0 45.83 46 21 9 16 0 45.65
Summary [ edit ] Games played 48 (46 Third Division , 2 FA Cup ) Games won 22 (21 Third Division, 1 FA Cup) Games drawn 9 (9 Third Division, 0 FA Cup) Games lost 17 (16 Third Division, 1 FA Cup) Goals scored 84 (78 Third Division, 6 FA Cup) Goals conceded 64 (61 Third Division, 3 FA Cup) Clean sheets 12 (11 Third Division, 1 FA Cup) Biggest league win 4–0 versus Bradford City , 3 May 1960 Worst league defeat 2–0 on three occasions; 3–1 versus Port Vale , 19 September 1959; 4–2 versus Newport County , 12 December 1959 Most appearances 48, Gerry Cakebread , George Francis , Johnny Rainford (46 Third Division, 2 FA Cup) Top scorer (league) 26, George Francis Top scorer (all competitions) 31, George Francis
Transfers and loans [ edit ] ^ The original fixture on 7 November 1959 was abandoned at half time due to fog, with the score at 1–1. References [ edit ]