1950–51 Birmingham City F.C. season

Birmingham City F.C.

1950–51 season
Chairman	Harry Morris Jr
Manager	Bob Brocklebank
Ground	St Andrew's
Football League Second Division	4th
FA Cup	Semi-final (eliminated by Blackpool)
Top goalscorer	League: Cyril Trigg (17) All: Cyril Trigg (19)
Highest home attendance	50,764 vs Manchester United, FA Cup sixth round, 24 February 1951
Lowest home attendance	12,593 vs Southampton, 28 February 1951
Average home league attendance	25,333
← 1949–50 1951–52 →

The 1950–51 Football League season was Birmingham City Football Club's 48th in the Football League and their 20th in the Second Division, having been relegated from the First Division in 1949–50. They finished in 4th position in the 22-team division. They entered the 1950–51 FA Cup at the third round proper and reached the semi-final, in which they lost to Blackpool after a replay.

Twenty-two players made at least one appearance in nationally organised competitive football during the season, and there were thirteen different goalscorers. Goalkeeper Gil Merrick, full-back Arthur Atkins and winger Johnny Berry were ever-present in the 48-game season, and Cyril Trigg was the leading goalscorer with 19 goals, of which 17 came in league matches.

As part of the Festival of Britain, friendly matches were arranged at the end of this season between British clubs and teams from other parts of the British Isles and from continental Europe. Birmingham played in four such matches, against teams from Scotland, Ireland and Yugoslavia.

Football League Second Division

Main article: 1950–51 Football League

Note that not all teams completed their playing season on the same day. Birmingham were in third position after their last game of the season, on 28 April, but by the time the last game was played, on 5 May, they had been overtaken by Cardiff City and finished fourth, three points behind the promotion places.

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
19 August 1950	1st	Swansea Town	A	W	1–0	Boyd	25,012
23 August 1950	1st	Leicester City	H	W	2–0	Trigg, Smith	28,343
26 August 1950	4th	Grimsby Town	H	D	1–1	Powell	33,017
28 August 1950	1st	Leicester City	A	W	3–1	Trigg, Smith, Stewart	31,291
2 September 1950	1st	Notts County	A	W	1–0	Smith	34,648
6 September 1950	1st	Coventry City	H	D	1–1	Higgins	24,719
9 September 1950	1st	Preston North End	H	W	1–0	Smith	32,633
11 September 1950	2nd	Coventry City	H	L	1–3	Berry	30,448
16 September 1950	5th	Bury	A	L	1–4	Dorman	16,809
23 September 1950	5th	Queens Park Rangers	H	D	1–1	Heath og	26,583
30 September 1950	4th	Chesterfield	A	D	1–1	Trigg	12,330
7 October 1950	4th	Southampton	A	W	2–0	Smith, Green	25,499
14 October 1950	3rd	Barnsley	H	W	2–0	Smith, Boyd	26,617
21 October 1950	4th	Brentford	A	L	1–2	Trigg	19,273
28 October 1950	3rd	Blackburn Rovers	H	W	3–2	Trigg, Smith, Stewart	24,552
4 November 1950	4th	Hull City	A	L	2–3	Trigg 2	32,038
11 November 1950	5th	Doncaster Rovers	H	L	0–2		26,779
18 November 1950	5th	Sheffield United	A	L	2–3	Smith, Stewart	23,879
25 November 1950	5th	Luton Town	H	W	3–0	Higgins 2, Smith	18,606
2 December 1950	7th	Leeds United	A	L	0–3		23,355
9 December 1950	6th	West Ham United	H	W	3–1	Higgins, Stewart, Smith	18,180
16 December 1950	4th	Swansea Town	H	W	5–0	Trigg 3, Stewart, Berry	15,649
23 December 1950	4th	Grimsby Town	A	D	1–1	Smith	13,141
25 December 1950	6th	Manchester City	A	L	1–3	Trigg	40,173
26 December 1950	4th	Manchester City	H	W	1–0	Trigg	32,092
30 December 1950	5th	Notts County	H	L	1–4	Stewart	33,770
13 January 1951	7th	Preston North End	A	L	0–1		30,662
20 January 1951	7th	Bury	H	D	3–3	Trigg 2, Stewart	25,653
3 February 1951	9th	Queens Park Rangers	A	L	0–2		12,295
17 February 1951	7th	Chesterfield	H	W	2–1	Trigg, Higgins	33,768
28 February 1951	7th	Southampton	H	W	2–1	Trigg, Stewart	12,593
3 March 1951	5th	Barnsley	A	W	2–0	Dailey, Stewart	15,450
17 March 1951	5th	Blackburn Rovers	A	W	3–2	Dailey 2, Higgins	28,116
23 March 1951	5th	Cardiff City	H	D	0–0		15,054
24 March 1951	4th	Hull City	H	W	2–1	Dailey, Boyd	27,512
26 March 1951	5th	Cardiff City	A	L	1–2	Rowley	36,992
31 March 1951	5th	Doncaster Rovers	A	W	1–0	Trigg	16,091
7 April 1951	3rd	Sheffield United	H	W	3–0	Higgins, Rowley, Warhurst	21,974
14 April 1951	4th	Luton Town	A	D	1–1	Warhurst	16,324
21 April 1951	4th	Leeds United	H	L	0–1		23,809
25 April 1951	4th	Brentford	H	D	1–1	Smith	13,643
28 April 1951	3rd	West Ham United	A	W	2–1	Rowley, Ferris	12,396

League table (part)

Final Second Division table (part)

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
2nd	Manchester City	42	19	14	9	89	61	1.46	52
3rd	Cardiff City	42	17	16	9	53	45	1.18	50
4th	Birmingham City	42	20	9	13	64	53	1.21	49
5th	Leeds United	42	20	8	14	63	55	1.15	48
6th	Blackburn Rovers	42	19	8	15	65	66	0.98	46
Key	Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points
Source

FA Cup

Main article: 1950–51 FA Cup

Birmingham beat Manchester City, Bristol City, and First Division teams Derby County and Manchester United, without needing a replay and while conceding only one goal, to reach the semi-final, in which they faced another First Division team, Blackpool. The Times suggested that the fixture, "as always when Matthews plays, will present the problem of how to smother the greatest player in the history of English football", warning that "to smother Matthews—should they even succeed—is not to smother Blackpool." Supporters queued all night for tickets; the 20,000 allocation sold out within two hours. In addition to several special trains, the supporters' club chartered 60 coaches to travel to Maine Road, Manchester, where touts were offering tickets for sale at four times face value.

Blackpool were the class team, but "Birmingham, with their fiery, quick tackling, their spirit and the snapping up of stray chances, have swept class aside before now." Though failing to sweep Blackpool aside, they did stop them scoring, combatting the attacking threat by switching the pacy Jack Badham to the left to man-mark Matthews and using the other defenders, among whom Arthur Atkins stood out, to cut out his crosses. With two minutes left, Jackie Stewart's "terrific left-foot shot struck a post, then passed out, with thousands of horrified Blackpool supporters on the verge of doing likewise."

In the replay, at Goodison Park in front of a 70,000 crowd, "the greatest mystery of all was why the Blackpool inside forwards did not run up a total of five or six goals in the opening hour—to put it conservatively", with Matthews in "his finest form". They scored twice, but within a minute of the second, Bill Smith pulled one back after Johnny Berry's corner rebounded from a post. In the remainder of the match, Birmingham rallied, with shots from all parts; "Blackpool weathered the storm they had brought upon themselves, but how gallantly had Birmingham died."

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
Third round	6 January 1951	Manchester City	H	W	2–0	Stewart, Higgins	30,057
Fourth round	27 January 1951	Derby County	A	W	3–1	Stewart, Trigg, Smith	37,384
Fifth round	10 February 1951	Bristol City	H	W	2–0	Stewart, Trigg	47,831
Sixth round	24 February 1951	Manchester United	H	W	1–0	Higgins	50,764
Semi-final	10 March 1951	Blackpool	Maine Road, Manchester	D	0–0		71,890
Semi-final replay	14 March 1951	Blackpool	Goodison Park, Liverpool	L	1–2	Smith	70,114

Festival of Britain

As part of the Festival of Britain, friendly matches were arranged at the end of this season between British clubs and against teams from continental Europe. Birmingham played in four such matches, against teams from Scotland, Ireland and Yugoslavia.

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
7 May 1951	Airdrieonians	H	L	3–5	Berry 2, Kelly og	7,985
12 May 1951	Dinamo (Yugoslavia)	H	L	0–2		12,058
18 May 1951	Home Farm (Dublin)	A	W	2–1	Stewart, Berry	3,000
20 May 1951	Cork Athletic	A	W	5–2	Trigg 2, Higgins, Stewart, Dailey	2,750

Appearances and goals

• Players with name struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.

Players having played at least one first-team match

Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	ENG	Gil Merrick	42	0	6	0	48	0
FB	ENG	Jack Badham	35	0	5	0	40	0
FB	ENG	Ken Green	39	1	4	0	43	1
FB	ENG	Jeff Hall	1	0	0	0	1	0
FB	SCO	Roy Martin	10	0	3	0	13	0
HB	ENG	Arthur Atkins	42	0	6	0	48	0
HB	ENG	Len Boyd	36	3	6	0	42	3
HB	ENG	Don Dorman	21	1	1	0	22	1
HB	NIR	Ray Ferris	20	1	6	0	26	1
FW	ZAF	Hymie Kloner	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	SCO	Frank McKee	3	0	0	0	3	0
FW	ENG	Johnny Berry	42	2	6	0	48	2
FW	SCO	Jimmy Dailey	6	4	0	0	6	4
FW	IRL	Jim Higgins	28	7	6	2	23	9
FW	IRL	Eddie O'Hara	3	0	0	0	3	0
FW	WAL	Aubrey Powell	15	1	0	0	15	1
FW	ENG	Harold Roberts	10	0	0	0	10	0
FW	ENG	Ken Rowley	8	3	0	0	8	3
FW	ENG	Bill Smith	35	12	5	2	40	14
FW	SCO	Jackie Stewart	25	9	6	3	31	12
FW	ENG	Cyril Trigg	30	17	6	2	36	19
FW	ENG	Roy Warhurst	9	2	0	0	9	2

See also

• Birmingham City F.C. seasons

References

General

• Source for match dates and results:
• Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 336–37.

Specific