Season 1952/53 was another poor one, the only real feature being the visit of
Brighton & Hove Albion in the First Round of the F.A. Cup on 22nd November. Yeovil had
overcome Merthyr Tydfil 1-0 at home in the 4th Qualifying Round only to find the Sussex side
too good for them, going down 4-1. In the League, Yeovil dropped a further place to
eighteenth, Headington (now Oxford United) taking the Championship for the first time.
The Southern League Cup was another disappointment, though it was remarkable in the fact
that Yeovil faced only one team, Weymouth, and played them four times!
The Terras' won in the qualifying stages 4-2 on aggregate, but Yeovil
scrapped into the 1st Round (where they again lost on aggregate to
Weymouth, this time 3-2) by finishing in sixteenth place in the qualifying
group.
At the end of the season, Manager Harry Lowe left the Club. His
main claim to fame during his spell at Huish was the number of different
players he signed. Every week at least one new player turned out for the
first team. In the main, the players were attached to Football League clubs
and were doing their National Service at various camps around the Yeovil
area. No fewer than 90 different players turned out for the first team alone
during the two seasons Harry Lowe was in charge.
Surprisingly, during this time, a large number of players left the Club to join Football
or Scottish League
clubs. These included Corbett (to Dunfermline), Faulds (Rochdale), D. Haines (Newport Co.),
Rae (Hamilton
Ace.), Case (Rochdale), Mansley (Leyton Orient), Phillips (Portsmouth - for a fee of £1.00),
Hindle (Motherwell),
Finchley (Walsall) and Clarke (Derby Co.).
However, the 1952/53 season did see the arrival of a number of
players who were to stay and make their mark at Yeovil in later seasons. These included
Warren (from Exeter City), Nagy (Swindon Town), Paton (Motherwell) and McKay (Q.P.R.).
Link: 1952-53 First Team Fixtures And Results.
Link: 1952-53 First Team Scorers.
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