Season 194647
WITH several players still returning – and indeed getting match fit – after their activities during WWII, the first season after the hostilities was a mixed one for our clubs.
Wolves, in fact, had the best record overall, finishing a creditable third in the First Division, just a single point behind both the champions Liverpool and runner’s-up Manchester United.
If Wolves had won – and not lost – their final game of the season against Liverpool they would, of course, been declared League champions for the very first time as their closest challengers for glory, Stoke City, would subsequently fail to win their last game of the campaign against Sheffield United.
Ted Vizard’s team won 25 of their 42 matches – the same number as the
Anfield club – and effectively with just four games remaining they looked favourites to win the title. But alas they gained only three points out of eight and missed out by the narrowest of margins.
Wolves’ best wins of the campaign were those of 7-2 at home against Derby County and 6-1 over both Arsenal and Huddersfield Town, also at Molineux. They also defeated Chelsea 6-4 in a thrilling encounter in late April.
Defeat
In contrast, their heaviest defeat was a 4-1 loss at Brentford in mid-january.
Dennis Westcott scored 38 of Wolves’ 98 League goals; Jesse Pye netted 20 and Jimmy Mullen 11. Pye, in fact, bagged a treble on his debut in the 6-1 win over Arsenal.
In fact, no less than 16 players made their debuts for Wolves this season, while another, Stan Cullis, officially announced his
retirement.
Wolves’ arch rivals the Albion did reasonably well, claiming seventh place in Division Two, 14
points behind the champions Manchester City and 10 adrift of second-placed Burnley.
Albion slipped five places down the table late on in the season after a bad run which saw them win only one game out of seven.
Of their 20 victories, the best was a 7-2 away victory at Newport County while they also beat Fulham 6-1 at The Hawthorns. The Baggies’ heaviest defeat came in early November when they crashed 5-0 away at Maine Road against the subsequent champions.
Irish international centre-forward Davy Walsh, signed from Linfield, scored in each of the first six games of the season and ended up as top marksman with a total of 28 goals, followed by Ike Clarke with 19 and Billy Elliott with 10.
Albion also signed Irish centre-half Jack Vernon from Belfast Celtic for a record fee of £8,500. He was chosen to represent Great Britain against the Rest of Europe in May 1947.
Of the 23 players who broke Albion’s League this term were Ray Barlow, Len Millard and Reg Ryan who would all go on and gain FA Cup winners’ medals with the Baggies in 1954.
Also making his Football League debut was Arthur Rowley who would go on to score a record 434 goals at this level playing also for Fulham, Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town. This record goal-tally still stands to this day.
Walsall had their best League season since 193334 by finishing sixth in Division Three (S).
The Saddlers got off to a bad start (no wins in their first six games with only two goals scored) and, in truth, they never really got within shooting distance of winning promotion despite producing a 10-match unbeaten run leading up to last November.
Their biggest win of the season was an emphatic 8-0 victory away at Northampton in early April when both Dennis Wilshaw (a future ‘Wolf’ of course) and Albert Mullard netted hat-tricks.
The Saddlers’ heaviest defeat was that of 4-1 at Swindon in late March.
Wilshaw (18 goals), Mullard (10) and Doug Lishman (8) were the team’s top three marksmen. Lishman of course went on to play for Arsenal.
Knocked out
In the FA Cup, both Wolves and Albion were knocked out in round four by Sheffield United and Charlton Athletic respectively while Walsall crashed out in round three, beaten 5-2 by Liverpool at Fellows Park.
Other news … and the Wolves defender Billy Wright won the first of his 105 full caps for England when he lined up against Northern Ireland in September.