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Season 1938-39. Lancashire Combination. 'Blues' In The Nursery. At considerable expense and a large amount of voluntary labour, Droylsden carried on with improvements to the ground. The front entrance had received attention, insofar as a new main gate had been erected, and the turnstiles had been improved. A new office for the officials had been built, whilst the main stand had been newly painted in red and white. The playing field had also received attention; four additional drains having been laid. The club was to continue as a nursery for Manchester City, whilst City's 'A' team would again play their home matches at the Butchers' Arms. With regard to the team, the nucleus was to be provided by the previous seasons players. The list of players signed was: Goal, Bob Owen. Fullbacks: Jenkins, Worthing, McCleary, Lunn, Waterhouse. Halfbacks: Gartside, Jones, Lawrence, Moran, Muir, Lear, Shepherd, Murray, Lee. Forwards: Boulton, A'Lee, Gallagher, Bentley, Brigham, Brierly, Stansfield, Holland, Taylor, Gaffney, Hallam. Officials for the 1938-39 season were: President H Fish. Chairman H Griffiths. Vice Chairman C Saltsman. Treasurer B Ingham. Secretary Manager H Johnson. The officials made it clear that in this, their third season in the Combination, they were determined that Droylsden FC would show a marked improvement on the field of play. The season got off to a reasonable start, with Droylsden drawing their first game, at Bacup, 1-1. A home match with Clitheroe followed, Droylsden winning 2-1. At home again, Droylsden lost to Morecambe 2-4, but followed that up with a home win against Prescott Cables by 3 goals to 1. The team then travelled to Marine where they lost 0-5, and the Saturday after they lost at Clitheroe 0-5. Then, after drawing with Southport Reserves at the Butchers' Arms 1-1, Droylsden's season was as good as finished. Away to Fleetwood, Droylsden lost 2-3. Two home matches were then lost, against Darwen, 3-5, and Lancaster City 0-4. After the Lancaster game it was reported, "...the Droylsden side is like the proverbial curates egg - good in parts." Away to Barrow, Droylsden were beaten 2-5, and the following week, at home to Rossendale United, the club suffered another defeat, going down by 4 goals to 5. By this time the Droylsden officials were becoming concerned and new players were drafted in left, right and centre, though most of the players they were bringing in were amateurs rather than the more experienced type of players that were needed. So not surprisingly, even though Droylsden now had virtually a new team on the pitch things didn’t improve. At New Brighton, Droylsden lost 0-3. Then a point was won at home against Horwich - though Horwich were as bad as Droylsden, neither club having won a match since September 7. The club then signed Tommy Allen, a 23 year-old ex-Everton fullback, but as good an acquisition as he was to the team, he couldn't change the losing habit the club had now got itself into. By Christmas Droylsden were lying second from bottom in the table and in early January the club reached an all time low when they travelled to play South Liverpool minus seven first team players, and with only nine men to start the match - two others arriving ten minutes after the kick off. At the final whistle, Droylsden had taken the biggest hiding in their history, the final score being 12-2. After losing again, at home to Great Harwood - who were bottom of the table - Droylsden had created another club record by playing 17 successive matches without a win. The clubs fortunes were not helped much at the beginning of February when, in a home game against Fleetwood, Tommy Allen (now captain) scored two own goals in the first half of a game Droylsden lost 4-6. By this time Droylsden had conceded 100 goals and were stuck firmly at the foot of the league table. The Droylsden supporters were down in the dumps and much of the talk going around Market Street was that the club might have done better if it hadn't associated itself with Manchester City. Those in the know however argued that if it were not for the aid of the Maine Road club, there would be no Droylsden club, as the gates at Droylsden's home matches would not support a team in the Lancashire Combination. Droylsden were making money out of the arrangement with City, the gate money from City's 'A' team matches bringing in around £100 to £125 per season. The blame for Droylsden's predicament lay closer to home than Maine Road. If anyone was going to carry the can it had to be the Droylsden officials. They had signed too many amateurs and had relied too much on Manchester City lending them players - which the City club had not done. During February three more matches were played, and thus three more matches were lost: against Rossendale 3-4: Rochdale Reserves 0-7 and Lancaster City 2-6. At the end of February it was announced that Droylsden FC were thinking of applying for a place in the Cheshire League next season. However, the present season had still to be endured, and endured it was, with not much sign of an upturn in the clubs fortunes. From their last twelve matches Droylsden managed to obtain just 7 points, and were now obliged to seek re-election to the Combination. During the course of the past season, the Droylsden committee had seen fit to allow free-admission to old aged pensioners. It was a privilege intended for the pensioners of Droylsden, and the committee were dumbfounded when old aged pensioners from Audenshaw, Ashton, Clayton, Openshaw, Bradford and Gorton rolled up for their 'free' games. Before seeking re-election to the Combination, the Droylsden committee decided to make an application for the vacancy in the Cheshire League, which had been created by the withdrawal of Manchester North End. In all, seven candidates had applied for the vacancy, of which Droylsden were one, the others being Winsford United (who were seeking re-election), Wrexham Reserves, Cradley Heath, Kidderminster Harriers, Stourbridge, and Oswestry, the last four named being members of the Birmingham League. The Birmingham League clubs, in making their application, pointed to the practical collapse of the midland league, and gave that excuse as their desire to join the Cheshire League. Kidderminster, 84 miles from Manchester, offered to pay £3 to every visiting club for every league match, with the exception of Wellington Town to whom they offered £2. Mr. Edward Case, president of the Cheshire League, ruled that this offer could not be taken into consideration. A club could not offer an inducement of this sort to get into a league. At the first round of voting, Winsford United received 22 votes, Wrexham 11 and Droylsden 11. Winsford, having been re-elected, were allowed to vote in the second round, and the result this time was Wrexham 14 and Droylsden 11. The scores of the other applicants were not revealed. And so Droylsden had only just missed out. The case for Droylsden's application had been ably put by Mr. Griffiths, but they had clearly been handicapped by their playing record in the Lancashire Combination, where they had finished bottom of the league. Mr. Griffiths had explained the long history of Droylsden FC and had been quick to point out the many improvements they had made to the ground in recent years. He had also added that cup-tie games with local Cheshire League clubs had always brought a good financial return. The local clubs had extended their full support to Droylsden on this occasion, though the clubs from the southern end of the Cheshire League had viewed the Butchers' Arms outfit in the light of their performances in the Combination, and had accordingly voted against them. "We were really the 'dark horses' of the race," said Droylsden chairman Mr. Griffiths, "And I am quite pleased with our showing. I was gambling on there being a split vote on the applicants, but unfortunately they plumped for Wrexham and ourselves, and we lost out." Later that week Droylsden made an application for re-admission to the Combination. The Lancashire Combination committee held their annual meeting at Bolton in June, and along with Horwich RMI, Droylsden were re-elected. Lancashire Combination 1938-39
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