1964–65 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season

Huddersfield Town's 1964–65 campaign was mainly a season of change for the Town, with Roger B. Kaye becoming the new chairman just before the start of the season, followed by the departure of manager Eddie Boot after just 3 games. Tom Johnston would then give Town a big boost for the rest of the season. A superb second half of the season saw Town only lose 3 league games in 1965, which would eventually lead Town to 8th place in Division 2.

Huddersfield Town
1964–65 season
ChairmanEngland Roger B. Kaye
ManagerEngland Eddie Boot (until 2 September 1964)
Scotland Tom Johnston (from 26 October 1964)
Football League Second Division8th
FA CupFourth round
(knocked out by Swansea Town)
Football League CupSecond round
(knocked out by Leeds United)
Top goalscorerLeague: Les Massie (10)
All: Les Massie (11)
Highest home attendance14,405 vs Manchester City (27 February 1965)
Lowest home attendance5,533 vs Swansea Town (5 December 1964)
Biggest win4–0 vs Swansea Town (5 December 1964)
Biggest defeat1–4 vs Southampton (19 September 1964)
1–4 vs Swindon Town (26 September 1964)
0–3 vs Crystal Palace (14 November 1964)
0–3 vs Portsmouth (20 February 1965)

Squad at the start of the season edit

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   IRL John Oldfield
-- GK   ENG Ray Wood
-- DF   ENG Denis Atkins
-- DF   ENG John Coddington
-- DF   ENG Stewart Holden
-- DF   ENG Ray Holt
-- DF   ENG Bob McNab
-- DF   IRL Mick Meagan
-- DF   ENG Bob Parker
-- DF   ENG Ken Taylor
-- MF   ENG John Bettany
-- MF   ENG Peter Dinsdale
No. Pos. Nation Player
-- MF   SCO Billy Fraser
-- MF   ENG Kevin McHale
-- MF   ENG Michael O'Grady
-- MF   ENG Steve Smith
-- FW   ENG Chris Balderstone
-- FW   ENG Allan Gilliver
-- FW   ENG Kevin Lewis
-- FW   SCO Les Massie
-- FW   ENG John Rudge
-- FW   ENG Derek Stokes
-- FW   ENG Len White

Review edit

Following the previous season's mid-table position, gates at Leeds Road drastically fell, no match recorded a crowd of more than 15,000 during the season. It wasn't helped by the dreadful start made by the Town, which cost Eddie Boot his job in early September. Town failed to win any of their first 9 matches. Tom Johnston would replace Boot and brought in Jimmy Nicholson, Tony Leighton and Johnny Quigley. But, Town's form didn't seem to completely improve until Town reached December.

Town's new acquisitions would help Town's form improve during the second half of the season, which would see Town lose only 3 times in the second half of the season. It would see Town finish in 8th place with 44 points, 12 points behind 2nd placed Northampton Town.

Squad at the end of the season edit

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   IRL John Oldfield
-- GK   ENG Ray Wood
-- DF   ENG Denis Atkins
-- DF   ENG Chris Cattlin
-- DF   ENG John Coddington
-- DF   ENG Stewart Holden
-- DF   ENG Ray Holt
-- DF   ENG Billy Legg
-- DF   ENG Bob McNab
-- DF   IRL Mick Meagan
-- DF   ENG Bob Parker
-- DF   ENG Derek Parkin
-- MF   ENG Peter Dinsdale
No. Pos. Nation Player
-- MF   SCO Billy Fraser
-- MF   ENG Kevin McHale
-- MF   NIR Jimmy Nicholson
-- MF   ENG Michael O'Grady
-- MF   SCO Johnny Quigley
-- MF   ENG Steve Smith
-- FW   ENG Chris Balderstone
-- FW   ENG Allan Gilliver
-- FW   ENG Tony Leighton
-- FW   ENG Kevin Lewis
-- FW   SCO Les Massie
-- FW   ENG John Rudge
-- FW   ENG Derek Stokes

Results edit

Division Two edit

Date Opponents Home/
Away
Result
F–A
Scorers Attendance Position
22 August 1964 Bolton Wanderers H 1–1 White 12,657 12th
26 August 1964 Plymouth Argyle A 0–0 17,841 8th
29 August 1964 Middlesbrough A 0–0 23,152 10th
2 September 1964 Plymouth Argyle H 1–2 White 9,478 17th
5 September 1964 Newcastle United H 0–1 8,770 21st
11 September 1964 Northampton Town A 2–3 O'Grady, Massie 12,984 20th
16 September 1964 Cardiff City A 1–1 White 9,392 20th
19 September 1964 Southampton H 0–3 6,969 21st
26 September 1964 Swindon Town A 1–4 Gilliver 12,764 22nd
29 September 1964 Cardiff City H 3–1 Lewis, Stokes, McHale 5,640 19th
3 October 1964 Coventry City A 3–2 Coddington (pen), Lewis, Balderstone 26,994 20th
7 October 1964 Derby County A 0–2 13,622 21st
10 October 1964 Portsmouth H 2–1 Massie, Stokes 7,511 18th
17 October 1964 Manchester City A 3–2 White (2), Gratrix (og) 15,704 17th
24 October 1964 Charlton Athletic H 0–1 7,480 18th
31 October 1964 Leyton Orient A 0–1 7,673 20th
7 November 1964 Bury H 0–2 7,793 21st
14 November 1964 Crystal Palace A 0–3 14,084 21st
21 November 1964 Norwich City H 0–0 6,536 21st
28 November 1964 Rotherham United A 3–2 Massie, O'Grady, Bettany 9,116 21st
5 December 1964 Swansea Town H 4–0 Holden, McHale (2), Massie 5,533 19th
15 December 1964 Bolton Wanderers A 0–1 11,782 19th
26 December 1964 Ipswich Town A 2–3 McHale, Stokes 11,608 21st
28 December 1964 Ipswich Town H 0–0 10,596 21st
2 January 1965 Newcastle United A 1–2 Leighton 45,315 21st
16 January 1965 Northampton Town H 2–0 Balderstone, Massie 7,359 21st
23 January 1965 Southampton A 3–3 Dinsdale, Leighton (2) 17,473 21st
6 February 1965 Swindon Town H 2–1 Leighton, Nicholson 9,064 19th
13 February 1965 Coventry City H 2–1 Massie, McHale 13,042 16th
20 February 1965 Portsmouth A 0–3 11,435 17th
27 February 1965 Manchester City H 1–0 Legg 14,405 15th
6 March 1965 Swansea Town A 2–2 Legg, Leighton 7,574 15th
13 March 1965 Leyton Orient H 0–0 11,237 15th
19 March 1965 Bury A 2–0 Leighton, Coddington (pen) 8,106 15th
27 March 1965 Crystal Palace H 2–0 Massie, O'Grady 10,255 14th
30 March 1965 Middlesbrough H 1–0 Massie 13,215 12th
3 April 1965 Norwich City A 2–0 Quigley, Massie 14,465 9th
10 April 1965 Rotherham United H 1–0 Legg 12,462 9th
17 April 1965 Charlton Athletic A 0–0 11,962 9th
19 April 1965 Preston North End H 3–0 Massie, Fraser, Leighton 12,261 9th
20 April 1965 Preston North End A 0–2 13,256 9th
24 April 1965 Derby County H 3–1 Leighton, Quigley (2) 10,275 8th

FA Cup edit

Date Round Opponents Home/
Away
Result
F–A
Scorers Attendance
9 January 1965 Round 3 Doncaster Rovers A 1–0 Massie 19,914
30 January 1965 Round 4 Swansea Town A 0–1 22,614

Football League Cup edit

Date Round Opponents Home/
Away
Result
F–A
Scorers Attendance
23 September 1964 Round 2 Leeds United A 2–3 Lewis, Bell (og) 9,837

Appearances and goals edit

Name Nation Position League Apps League Goals FA Cup Apps FA Cup Goals League Cup Apps League Cup Goals Total Apps Total Goals
Denis Atkins   England DF 27 0 2 0 1 0 30 0
Chris Balderstone   England MF 17 2 1 0 1 0 19 2
John Bettany   England MF 6 1 1 0 0 0 7 1
Chris Cattlin   England DF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
John Coddington   England DF 42 2 2 0 0 0 44 2
Peter Dinsdale   England DF 25 1 1 0 1 0 27 1
Billy Fraser   Scotland MF 4 1 0 0 0 0 4 1
Allan Gilliver   England FW 10 1 2 0 1 0 13 1
Stewart Holden   England MF 17 1 0 0 1 0 18 1
Ray Holt   England DF 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Billy Legg   England DF 7 3 1 0 0 0 8 3
Tony Leighton   England FW 18 8 0 0 0 0 18 8
Kevin Lewis   England MF 15 2 0 0 1 1 16 3
Les Massie   Scotland FW 36 10 2 1 1 0 39 11
Kevin McHale   England MF 32 5 2 0 0 0 34 5
Bob McNab   England DF 19 0 0 0 0 0 19 0
Mick Meagan   Republic of Ireland DF 34 0 2 0 0 0 36 0
Jimmy Nicholson   Northern Ireland MF 20 1 2 0 0 0 22 1
Michael O'Grady   England MF 23 3 1 0 0 0 24 3
John Oldfield   Republic of Ireland GK 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Bob Parker   England DF 12 0 0 0 1 0 13 0
Derek Parkin   England DF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Johnny Quigley   Scotland MF 15 3 0 0 0 0 15 3
John Rudge   England MF 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Steve Smith   England MF 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Derek Stokes   England FW 12 3 0 0 1 0 13 3
Ken Taylor   England DF 8 0 1 0 0 0 9 0
Len White   England FW 11 5 0 0 0 0 11 5
Ray Wood   England GK 30 0 2 0 1 0 33 0