1903–04 Brentford F.C. season

During the 1903–04 English football season, Brentford competed in the Southern League First Division. Despite leading the division in September 1903, disruption behind the scenes and the suspension of manager Dick Molyneux for the final month of the season led to a 13th-place finish.

Brentford

1903–04 season
Chairman	Charlie Dorey
Secretary Manager	Dick Molyneux (until March 1904) William Lewis (from March 1904)
Stadium	York Road
Southern League First Division	13th
FA Cup	Intermediate round
Top goalscorer	League: Buchanan, Underwood (6) All: Buchanan, Underwood (10)
Home colours
← 1902–03 1904–05 →

Season summary

 

Wing half Jimmy Jay was signed from Bristol City during the 1903 off-season and would go on to make more Southern League appearances for Brentford than any other player.

Directly after the end of the dire 1902–03 season, the Brentford committee decided to act and appoint a first team manager.^[1] Dick Molyneux became the first official manager in the club's history and arrived at York Road having served as manager at Everton for 12 years,^[1] with a CV boasting one Football League First Division championship and two FA Cup runners-up medals.^[2] One of the first major changes Molyneux enacted was to request that the board raise funds to pay adequate summer wages for the playing squad, which would put an end to the failures of previous seasons, when the board waited until almost before the beginning of the season to transfer players in, so as to cut down on off-season wages.^[1] Due to the majority of clubs conducting their transfer business shortly after the end of the season, the tactic meant that Brentford were always short on transfer options, when conducting business close to the beginning of the following season.^[1] The board raised £330 in donations (equivalent to £37,700 in 2024) and Molyneux set about building a 16-man all-professional squad which could compete in the Southern League First Division.^[1] Of the previous season's squad, only goalkeeper Tommy Spicer, inside left Percy Turner and outside left Tosher Underwood were retained and by early June 1903, Molyneux had signed an almost entirely new XI.^[1] Brentford's colours were changed for the first time since the mid-1890s, with the old claret and blue replaced by a kit consisting of gold shirts with blue stripes, white shorts and black socks.^[1]

Dick Molyneux's team started season strongly, reaching top spot in the First Division after five matches.^[1] The demands on the small squad led Brentford to fall back into mid-table and a goalkeeping crisis suffered in early 1904 exacerbated the problem.^[1] Molyneux brought in former trialist John Bishop and paid him money to play, an illegal move as Bishop was a serving soldier with the Scots Guards and therefore an amateur player.^[1] After his third appearance, Bishop returned late to barracks, was reported to his commanding officer and then made a statement in writing about his involvement with Brentford.^[1] The statement was passed on to the FA, who fined Brentford £25 and suspended director Bill Dodge for two years and manager Molyneux for the final month of the season.^[1] With secretary William Lewis in caretaker charge, the Bees took one point from the remaining five matches of the season to finish in 13th position.^[3]

One club record was set during the season:

• Most Southern League away draws in a season: 5^[4]

League table

Main article: 1903–04 Southern Football League § Division One

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
11	Fulham	34	9	12	13	34	36	0.944	30
12	West Ham United	34	10	7	17	39	44	0.886	27
13	Brentford	34	9	9	16	34	48	0.708	27
14	Wellingborough	34	11	5	18	44	63	0.698	27
15	Northampton Town	34	10	7	17	36	60	0.600	27

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used until the 1976-77 season. The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.

Results

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Southern League First Division

No.	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorer(s)
1	5 September 1903	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–1
2	7 September 1903	Swindon Town	H	2–1	Turner, Swarbrick
3	12 September 1903	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–0	Leigh
4	14 September 1903	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–0
5	19 September 1903	Reading	A	1–1	Underwood
6	26 September 1903	Wellingborough	H	0–1
7	3 October 1903	Bristol Rovers	A	1–5	Parsonage
8	10 October 1903	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–0	Leigh
9	17 October 1903	Portsmouth	A	1–3	Atherton
10	24 October 1903	Northampton Town	H	4–1	Buchanan, Bell (2), Durber (og)
11	7 November 1903	West Ham United	A	1–0	Underwood
12	21 November 1903	Luton Town	A	0–1
13	5 December 1903	Kettering	A	0–1
14	26 December 1903	Fulham	H	1–1	Leigh
15	28 December 1903	Millwall	H	1–3	Bellingham
16	2 January 1904	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–4	Buchanan
17	4 January 1904	Kettering	H	4–2	Buchanan (3), Jay
18	9 January 1904	Plymouth Argyle	A	2–2	Atherton, Davidson
19	16 January 1904	Reading	H	0–0
20	23 January 1904	Wellingborough	A	0–2
21	30 January 1904	Bristol Rovers	H	1–2	Parsonage (pen)
22	1 February 1904	New Brompton	H	1–1	Parsonage
23	6 February 1904	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–3	Underwood
24	13 February 1904	Portsmouth	H	4–0	Underwood (2), Brett (pen), Jay
25	20 February 1904	Northampton Town	A	0–3
26	27 February 1904	Swindon Town	A	1–1	Barron
27	5 March 1904	West Ham United	H	2–0	Underwood, Barron
28	12 March 1904	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–1	Buchanan
29	19 March 1904	Luton Town	H	2–1	Bell (2)
30	26 March 1904	New Brompton	A	0–3
31	2 April 1904	Southampton	H	0–1
32	9 April 1904	Southampton	A	0–1
33	16 April 1904	Fulham	A	0–0
34	23 April 1904	Millwall	A	0–2

FA Cup

Main article: 1903–04 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorer(s)
3QR	31 October 1903	Uxbridge	H	8–0	Bell (2), Leigh, Parsonage, Buchanan (2), Underwood (2)
4QR	14 November 1903	Oxford City	A	3–1	Underwood, Leigh, Parsonage
5QR	28 November 1903	Wycombe Wanderers	A	4–1	Leigh (2), Bell, Buchanan
IR	12 December 1903	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–1	Underwood
IR (replay)	16 December 1903	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–4	Buchanan

• Source: 100 Years of Brentford^[3]

Playing squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   ENG George Bishop — GK   ENG Bill Howarth — GK   ENG Tommy Spicer — GK   SCO Bob Watson — DF   SCO Tommy Davidson (c) — DF   ENG Thomas Howarth — DF   SCO Jock Watson — MF   SCO James Bellingham — MF   SCO Alex Caie — MF   ENG Jimmy Jay — MF   ENG George Parsonage

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   ENG Tommy Atherton (on loan from Grimsby Town) — FW   SCO John Barron — FW   SCO Lawrence Bell — FW   ENG Ralph Brett — FW   SCO Dave Buchanan — FW   ENG Charles Lanham — FW   ENG Tommy Leigh — FW   ENG James Swarbrick — FW   ENG Percy Turner — FW   ENG Tosher Underwood

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   ENG Joe Frail (to Stalybridge Rovers)

• Source: 100 Years of Brentford^[3]

Coaching staff

Dick Molyneux (5 September 1903 – March 1904)

Name	Role
Dick Molyneux	Secretary Manager
Bob Crone	Trainer

William Lewis (March – 23 April 1904)

Name	Role
William Lewis	Caretaker Manager
Bob Crone	Trainer

Statistics

Appearances

 

Spicer

Watson

Davidson (c)

Parsonage

Bellingham

Jay

Brett

Buchanan

Atherton

Underwood

Leigh

Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Southern League season.

Goalscorers

Pos.	Nat	Player	SL1	FAC	Total
FW		Dave Buchanan	6	4	10
FW		Tosher Underwood	6	4	10
FW		Tommy Leigh	4	4	8
FW		Lawrence Bell	4	3	7
HB		George Parsonage	3	2	5
FW		John Barron	2	—	2
FW		Tommy Atherton	2	0	2
HB		James Bellingham	1	0	1
FW		Ralph Brett	1	0	1
DF		Tommy Davidson	1	0	1
HB		Jimmy Jay	1	0	1
FW		Percy Turner	1	0	1
FW		James Swarbrick	1	0	1
Opponents			1	0	1
Total			34	17	51

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: 100 Years Of Brentford^[3]

Management

Name	Nat	From	To	Record All Comps					Record League
				P	W	D	L	W %	P	W	D	L	W %
Dick Molyneux		5 September 1903	19 March 1904	34	12	9	13	035.29	29	9	8	12	031.03
William Lewis (caretaker)		26 March 1904	23 April 1904	5	0	1	4	000.00	5	0	1	4	000.00

Summary

Games played	39 (34 Southern League First Division, 5 FA Cup)
Games won	12 (9 Southern League First Division, 3 FA Cup)
Games drawn	10 (9 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Games lost	17 (16 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Goals scored	51 (34 Southern League First Division, 17 FA Cup)
Goals conceded	55 (48 Southern League First Division, 7 FA Cup)
Clean sheets	9 (8 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Biggest league win	4–0 versus Portsmouth, 13 February 1904
Worst league defeat	5–1 versus Bristol Rovers, 3 October 1903
Most appearances	39, George Parsonage, Jock Watson (34 Southern League First Division, 5 FA Cup)
Top scorer (league)	6, Dave Buchanan, Tosher Underwood
Top scorer (all competitions)	10, Dave Buchanan, Tosher Underwood

References

1. White, p. 81-82.
2. "Honours". Everton Football Club. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
3. White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 357. ISBN 0951526200.
4. Haynes, Graham (1998). A-Z Of Bees: Brentford Encyclopedia. Yore Publications. pp. 117–120. ISBN 1 874427 57 7.