1975–76 season of Brentford F.C.
Brentford 1975–76 football season
During the 1975–76 English football season , Brentford competed in the Football League Fourth Division . A poor middle third of the season led to an 18th-place finish, just three points above the re-election zone.
Forward Andrew McCulloch joined Brentford for a club-record £25,000 fee in March 1976. Despite a strong finish to the previous campaign , only one incoming transfer (veteran goalkeeper Bill Glazier for £4,000) did not raise the belief around Griffin Park that Brentford would challenge for promotion from the Fourth Division during the 1975–76 season.[ 1] Instead, manager John Docherty made up the numbers with members of the club's youth team ,[ 1] with teenagers Gordon Sweetzer , Danis Salman , Paul Walker and Graham Cox all joining the club.[ 2]
Brentford had a strong start to the season, winning three and drawing three of the first six league matches of the season and advancing to the second round of the League Cup , where the run was brought to an end at Old Trafford by Manchester United .[ 3] With goalkeeper Bill Glazier quitting the club after just 12 appearances,[ 4] Brentford would tread water in the lower reaches of mid-table throughout the season, in which a run to the third round of the FA Cup became the focus.[ 1] Having reached that stage of the competition for the first time since the 1970–71 season,[ 1] the Bees took Second Division club Bolton Wanderers to a replay before losing 2–0 at Burnden Park .[ 3] A slight upturn in form towards the end of the season was inspired by the signing of Oxford United forward Andrew McCulloch for a club record £25,000 fee.[ 4]
Two club records were set during the season:
Youngest Football League debutant: Danis Salman, 15 years, 8 months, 3 days (versus Watford , 15 November 1975)[ 5] Lowest away Football League attendance: 894 versus Rochdale , 27 March 1976[ 5]
Brentford's goal tally listed first. Pre-season and friendlies [ edit ] Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorer(s) 2 August 1975 Oxford United H 1–5 1,420 Lawrence 4 August 1975 Walton A 0–0 n/a 6 August 1975 Portsmouth H 0–1 955 7 August 1975 Hayes A 2–1 n/a Graham , Bartlett 9 August 1975 Aldershot H 1–1 1,490 Cross 11 August 1975 Bexley A 5–0 n/a Cross (2), Simmons , French , untraced (og ) 29 April 1976 Hillingdon Borough A 4–2 513 Scales , Lawrence , Sweetzer , Poole 3 May 1976 Hounslow A 3–1 n/a Russell, Malcolm, Sweetzer
No. Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorer(s) 1 16 August 1975 Bradford City A 1–1 2,385 Johnson 2 23 August 1975 Hartlepool H 1–1 4,948 Cross 3 30 August 1975 Torquay United A 3–2 3,179 Cross , Allen , Graham 4 6 September 1975 Barnsley H 1–0 5,605 Cross 5 15 September 1975 Doncaster Rovers A 1–1 6,353 Johnson 6 20 September 1975 Stockport County H 2–1 6,282 Simmons , Riddick 7 24 September 1975 Bournemouth A 0–3 4,113 8 27 September 1975 Huddersfield Town A 1–2 4,160 Sweetzer 9 4 October 1975 Newport County H 1–3 5,678 Graham 10 11 October 1975 Lincoln City A 1–3 6,312 Graham 11 18 October 1975 Southport H 1–0 4,515 Johnson 12 21 October 1975 Northampton Town A 1–3 6,225 Scales 13 25 October 1975 Cambridge United A 1–2 2,596 French 14 1 November 1975 Scunthorpe United H 5–2 4,227 French , Johnson , Cross (2), Graham 15 3 November 1975 Workington H 4–0 5,379 French , Sweetzer , Johnson (pen ), Cross 16 7 November 1975 Tranmere Rovers A 1–5 4,326 Cross 17 15 November 1975 Watford H 1–0 6,934 Scales 18 29 November 1975 Crewe Alexandra A 0–1 2,248 19 6 December 1975 Rochdale H 3–0 4,853 Johnson (pen ), Cross , Riddick 20 20 December 1975 Darlington H 3–0 4,193 Sweetzer (2), Cross 21 26 December 1975 Exeter City A 0–0 4,912 22 27 December 1975 Reading H 2–2 10,612 Johnson , Scales 23 10 January 1976 Torquay United H 1–1 5,687 Johnson 24 16 January 1976 Stockport County A 0–2 2,267 25 24 January 1976 Doncaster Rovers H 0–1 4,885 26 31 January 1976 Northampton Town H 2–1 4,114 Johnson (pen ), Cross 27 7 February 1976 Workington A 1–1 1,231 French 28 14 February 1976 Tranmere Rovers H 0–1 4,725 29 21 February 1976 Watford A 2–3 6,223 Bristow (og ), Sweetzer 30 23 February 1976 Bournemouth H 1–2 4,585 Graham 31 28 February 1976 Cambridge United H 0–0 4,095 32 6 March 1976 Scunthorpe United A 1–2 3,377 Sharp 33 8 March 1976 Newport County A 0–1 1,150 34 13 March 1976 Lincoln City H 1–0 5,386 Cross 35 16 March 1976 Southport A 0–2 1,506 36 20 March 1976 Crewe Alexandra H 0–0 3,851 37 27 March 1976 Rochdale A 2–1 894 McCulloch , French 38 29 March 1976 Darlington A 0–2 1,758 39 3 April 1976 Bradford City H 2–2 3,453 McCulloch , Cross 40 5 April 1976 Huddersfield Town H 0–0 4,413 41 10 April 1976 Barnsley A 1–1 3,877 Cross 42 16 April 1976 Swansea City H 1–0 4,623 Johnson 43 17 April 1976 Exeter City H 5–1 4,175 Bence , French (2), McCulloch , Cross 44 19 April 1976 Reading A 0–1 12,972 45 24 April 1976 Hartlepool A 0–1 1,276 46 26 April 1976 Swansea City A 2–2 1,480 French , Johnson
Sources: 100 Years of Brentford,[ 6] The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies,[ 7] [ 8] Statto Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1975–76 season. Sources: The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies,[ 9] Timeless Bees[ 10] Appearances and goals [ edit ] Substitute appearances in brackets. Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years of Brentford[ 6] Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years of Brentford[ 6] Name Nat From To Record All Comps Record League P W D L W % P W D L W % John Docherty 16 August 1975 26 April 1976 53 17 15 21 0 32.08 46 14 13 19 0 30.43
Games played 53 (46 Fourth Division , 4 FA Cup , 3 League Cup ) Games won 17 (14 Fourth Division, 2 FA Cup, 1 League Cup) Games drawn 15 (13 Fourth Division, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup) Games lost 21 (19 Fourth Division, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup) Goals scored 64 (56 Fourth Division, 4 FA Cup, 4 League Cup) Goals conceded 67 (60 Fourth Division, 3 FA Cup, 4 League Cup) Clean sheets 14 (12 Fourth Division, 2 FA Cup, 0 League Cup) Biggest league win 4–0 versus Workington , 3 November 1975 Worst league defeat 5–1 versus Tranmere Rovers , 7 November 1975 Most appearances 53, Paul Bence , Terry Johnson (46 Fourth Division, 4 FA Cup, 3 League Cup) Top scorer (league) 14, Roger Cross Top scorer (all competitions) 16, Roger Cross
^ a b c d e f White, p. 298-300. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 128-130. ^ a b "Brentford results for the 1975–1976 season" . Statto.com . Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2017 . ^ a b Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 114. ^ a b "Celebrating 4,000 EFL Games: 1920–2016" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2016 . ^ a b c White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford . Brentford FC. p. 393. ISBN 0951526200 . ^ Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 116-126. ^ Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 308. ^ Croxford, Mark; Lane, David; Waterman, Greville (2011). The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies . Sunbury, Middlesex: Legends Publishing. ISBN 978-1906796709 . ^ Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006 . Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0955294914 . ^ a b "Player: Lawrence McGettigan" . Watford Football Club Archive . Retrieved 16 February 2024 . ^ a b Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 295.
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