Season 1952-53
THIS was, for sure, an excellent season for Wolves and Albion but sadly not for Walsall!
Wolves finished third in Division One, just three points behind the champions Arsenal (54-51), with Albion fourth on 50.
Surprising
Wolves started extremely well, losing only two of their first 14 League matches – 2-1 at Bolton and surprisingly by 5-2 at home to Blackpool.
They continued to press the leaders as the campaign wore on and were right in the mix to win the title until the last few games, which saw the eventual champions Arsenal and Preston maintain their form.
Wolves’ best win of the season was a 7-3 thrashing of Manchester City in early November when Roy Swinbourne netted a hat-trick. This, in fact, was Wolves’ 1,000th home game in the Football League.
They also beat Manchester United 6-2 and Bolton 5-1. Their heaviest defeat was that at home to the Seasiders as well as going down by the same score at Sunderland.
Swinbourne finished up as leading scorer with 21 League goals followed by Dennis Wilshaw with 17 and Jimmy Mullen 11.
Rivals Albion had good runs in September, in late November and early December and over the Easter period but they were always playing catch up on the teams above them.
The Baggies’ best win of the 21 they registered (which was two more than Wolves) was a 5-3 victory at Newcastle, while they also won a nine-goal thriller by 5-4 at Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day.
The team’s two heaviest defeats came in successive away games early in the New Year – 5-0 at Burnley and 5-1 at Stoke.
Ronnie Allen with 20 goals and George Lee with 10 were the top marksmen.
Alas, poor old Walsall, for the second season running, had to apply for re-election of Division Three (South) after finishing rock bottom of the pile with a mere 24 points – their lowest total since 1894-95.
Awful
The Saddlers were awful at times and won only seven of their 46 fixtures (five at home, two away) and suffered no less than 29 defeats.
The best wins were of 3-0 over
Brighton and Torquay while their heaviest defeats came at Bristol City, Colchester and Exeter, all by 6-1, and 5-0 at Ipswich.
Top scorer
Overall the team conceded no less than 118 League goals.
Jack Bridgett with 11 goals out of a total of 56, finished up as top-scorer while left-winger Phil Giles netted nine.
Thankfully the Saddlers received enough votes to retain their Football League status – again!
In the FA Cup competition, Wolves crashed out in round three, hammered 5-2 at Preston.
Albion went out in round 4, beaten 4-0 in a third replay by Chelsea, while Walsall surrendered in round one at Newport.
Also around the clubs, Wolves signed wing-half Bill Slater from Brentford and transferred Billy Crook to Walsall and Jimmy Dunn to Derby County.
Albion changed managers, bringing in Vic Buckingham to replace Jesse Carver. The Baggies’ reached the milestone of 2,000 League games when they faced Manchester United in November (won 3-1) and in the space of just five-and-a-half weeks either side of the New Year, a total of 33 goals were scored in five matches involving Albion.
Meanwhile, struggling Walsall used no less than 27 different players in their first team and only one – Billy Green –was an ever-present.
And for the record, in a friendly match, to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation, Wolves beat Albion 3-1 at The Hawthorns.