1951/52 – Division Three (North) Champions
This entry doesn’t just cover the 1952 Championship-winning side, but the whole post-war period, 1948-1961. It’s a big stretch, and Bill Anderson certainly performed miracles. We could subdivide it down to the 1948 title winners, then 1952, then the side that finished eighth in 56, but honestly, this is a top ten, and there isn’t really time.
It is hard to compare to modern standards; we don’t know what budgets were like, but our average attendances over this period ranged between 15,000 (1949) and 11,000 (1961). In the same period, the average attendance in the second tier was 24,500 (1949) and 18,000 (1961), so generally, we would have had a lower budget, as most money came in from attendances and player sales.
There has to be a strong shout for this team to be the best ever, but there is nobody around to make it, not properly. If you were 20 when we finished eighth in ’56, you’d be 90 now. If you are, and you remember, then we want to chat to you!
With the club record win (11-1) and a host of legends such as Johnnie Garvie, Andy Graver and Roy Finch, this was a golden era for the club. When we finished eighth, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Fulham and West Ham were all in the division. Okay, we eventually dropped like a stone, but Bill Anderson kept us on the cusp of the country’s elite for so long.
That’s some achievement.
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