1963–64 Birmingham City F.C. season

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Birmingham City F.C.
1963–64 season
ChairmanHarry Morris, Jr
ManagerGil Merrick
GroundSt Andrew's
Football League First Division20th
FA CupThird round
(eliminated by Port Vale)
Football League CupSecond round
(eliminated by Norwich City)
Top goalscorerLeague: Bertie Auld (10)
All: Bertie Auld (10)
Highest home attendance36,847 vs Manchester United, 7 September 1963
Lowest home attendance13,915 vs Fulham, 21 December 1963
Average home league attendance21,996

The 1963–64 Football League season was Birmingham City Football Club's 61st in the Football League and their 37th in the First Division. They finished in 20th position in the 22-team division, only one point above the relegation places. They lost their opening match in each of the cup competitions, to Port Vale in the third round proper of the 1963–64 FA Cup and to Norwich City in the second round of the League Cup.

Although Birmingham maintained their First Division status, the board of directors asked Gil Merrick to resign as manager.[1] He had been with the club for 25 years as player – he was first-choice goalkeeper for 14 years and, as of 2012, he held the club's appearance record – and manager, having led Birmingham to the 1961 Fairs Cup Final in his first season and to victory in the 1963 League Cup Final to win the club's first and, until 2011, only major trophy.[2] In June, Nottingham Forest's trainer-coach Joe Mallett was brought in with responsibility for "team affairs, including team selection". He was formally appointed manager early in the 1964–65 season.[3]

Twenty-five players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were fifteen different goalscorers. Forward Mike Hellawell played in 42 of the 44 first-team matches over the season, and Bertie Auld finished as leading goalscorer with 10 goals, all scored in league competition.

Football League First Division

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Main article: 1963–64 Football League
Date League
position		 Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
24 August 1963 5th Bolton Wanderers H W 2–1 Lynn pen, Hellawell 24,817
28 August 1963 16th Leicester City A L 0–1 27,694
31 August 1963 18th Fulham A L 1–2 Lynn pen 21,260
4 September 1963 11th Leicester City H W 2–0 Leek, Hellawell 23,851
7 September 1963 15th Manchester United H D 1–1 Harley 36,874
11 September 1963 17th West Bromwich Albion H L 0–1 34,666
14 September 1963 17th Burnley A L 1–2 Harris 20,350
18 September 1963 18th West Bromwich Albion A L 1–3 Harris 29,662
21 September 1963 16th Ipswich Town H W 1–0 Beard 19,095
28 September 1963 18th Sheffield Wednesday A L 1–2 Thomson 18,233
2 October 1963 19th Tottenham Hotspur A L 1–6 Auld 37,649
5 October 1963 20th Everton H L 0–2 23,593
19 October 1963 20th Sheffield United A L 0–3 18,974
26 October 1963 20th Wolverhampton Wanderers H D 2–2 Harley, Woodfield og 24,843
2 November 1963 20th Chelsea A W 3–2 Harley, P. Bullock, Auld 22,974
5 November 1963 20th Arsenal A L 1–4 Bloomfield 23,499
9 November 1963 20th Blackpool H W 3–2 Bloomfield, Auld, Lynn 17,536
16 November 1963 20th Blackburn Rovers A L 0–3 14,813
23 November 1963 20th Nottingham Forest H D 3–3 Auld 2, Smith 18,161
30 November 1963 20th Stoke City A L 1–4 Auld 27,260
7 December 1963 20th West Ham United H W 2–1 Auld, Lynn pen 15,483
14 December 1963 20th Bolton Wanderers A W 2–0 Leek, Hellawell 9,663
21 December 1963 19th Fulham H D 0–0 13,915
28 December 1963 19th Arsenal H L 1–4 Harley 23,377
11 January 1964 18th Manchester United A W 2–1 M. Bullock, Harley 44,919
18 January 1964 18th Burnley H D 0–0 15,917
1 February 1964 19th Ipswich Town A L 2–3 Regan, Farmer 13,349
8 February 1964 19th Sheffield Wednesday H L 1–2 Harley 15,479
18 February 1964 20th Everton A L 0–1 36,252
22 February 1964 20th Liverpool A L 1–2 Leek 41,823
29 February 1964 20th Tottenham Hotspur H L 1–2 Thomson 28,433
7 March 1964 20th Wolverhampton Wanderers A L 1–5 Harley 16,421
13 March 1964 20th Blackburn Rovers H D 2–2 Leek, Auld 15,809
20 March 1964 20th Blackpool A L 0–3 10,203
28 March 1964 20th Chelsea H L 3–4 Thwaites 2, Auld 14,485
30 March 1964 20th Aston Villa A W 3–0 Harris, Hellawell, Lynn pen 25,797
31 March 1964 20th Aston Villa H D 3–3 Bloomfield, Leek, Lynn pen 28,069
4 April 1964 20th Nottingham Forest A L 0–4 13,897
11 April 1964 21st Stoke City H L 0–1 19,914
17 April 1964 21st West Ham United A L 0–5 22,106
22 April 1964 21st Liverpool H W 3–1 Leek, Hellawell, Lynn pen 22,630
25 April 1964 20th Sheffield United H W 3–0 Auld, Smith, Lynn pen 26,202

League table (part)

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Final First Division table (part)
Pos Club Pld W D L F A GA Pts
18th Blackpool 42 13 9 20 52 73 0.71 35
19th Aston Villa 42 11 12 19 62 71 0.87 34
20th Birmingham City 42 11 7 24 54 92 0.59 29
21st Bolton Wanderers 42 10 8 24 48 80 0.60 28
22nd Ipswich Town 42 9 7 26 56 121 0.46 25
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 [4]

FA Cup

[edit]
Main article: 1963–64 FA Cup
Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
Third round 4 March 1964 Port Vale H L 1–2 Beard 21,615

League Cup

[edit]
Main article: 1963–64 Football League Cup
Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
Second round 25 September 1963 Norwich City A L 0–2 16,781

Appearances and goals

[edit]
Players marked † left the club during the playing season.
Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; FB – Full back; HB – Half back; FW – Forward
Players' appearances and goals by competition
Pos. Nat. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK  ENG Johnny Schofield 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
GK  ENG Colin Withers 38 0 1 0 1 0 40 0
FB  WAL Colin Green 33 0 1 0 1 0 35 0
FB  ENG Stan Lynn 33 8 1 0 0 0 34 8
FB  ENG Ray Martin 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
FB  ENG Brian Rushton 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 0
HB  ENG Malcolm Beard 36 1 1 1 1 0 38 2
HB  ENG Mick Farmer 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
HB  ENG Winston Foster 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
HB  WAL Terry Hennessey 39 0 1 0 1 0 41 0
HB  ENG Trevor Smith 34 2 1 0 1 0 36 2
FW  ENG Geoff Anderson 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
FW  SCO Bertie Auld 34 10 1 0 0 0 35 10
FW  ENG Jimmy Bloomfield 34 3 1 0 1 0 36 3
FW  ENG Mickey Bullock 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 1
FW  ENG Peter Bullock 11 1 0 0 0 0 11 1
FW  ENG Greg Farrell † 2[a] 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
FW  SCO Alex Harley 23 7 0 0 1 0 24 7
FW  ENG Jimmy Harris 5 3 0 0 0 0 5 3
FW  ENG Mike Hellawell 39[a] 5 1 0 1 0 41 5
FW  WAL Ken Leek 26 6 1 0 1 0 28 6
FW  ENG John Regan 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 1
FW  SCO Bobby Thomson 21 2 1 0 1 0 23 2
FW  ENG Denis Thwaites 10 2 0 0 0 0 10 2
FW  ENG Johnny Vincent 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
  1. ^ a b General source mistakenly includes Hellawell rather than Farrell in the team for the match against Everton in October.[5][6]

See also

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Notes

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References

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General

  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  • Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
  • Source for match dates and results: "Birmingham City 1963–1964: Results". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  • Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 362–63.
  • Source for kit: "Birmingham City". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 22 May 2018.

Specific

  1. ^ "Birmingham City ask Merrick to resign". The Guardian. 29 April 1964. p. 16. Yesterday Mr W. Adams, the secretary of Birmingham City, issued the following statement: 'Mr Gil Merrick met the board this morning who notified him that changes and complete reorganisation of the club were to take place, and asked him to resign. To this Mr Merrick agreed.'
  2. ^ Lewis, Peter. "Gil Merrick". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
    "Birmingham City FC Club Honours". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Sports news in brief: Association Football". The Guardian. 22 June 1964. p. 10. J. Mallett, Nottingham Forest's trainer-coach, has been appointed to a similar position at Birmingham City. He will be in charge of team affairs, including team selection.
    Matthews (1995), p. 62.
  4. ^ "Birmingham City 1963–1964: English Division One (old) Table". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  5. ^ "Player search: Farrell, GJP (Greg)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Hellawell out". Birmingham Post. 5 October 1963. p. 25. Birmingham City, at home to Everton, also make one change, Farrell coming in at outside-right in place of Hellawell, who has influenza.
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