Too much pessimism, too many excuses: 1931/32 season, part four
Leeds United's chairman, Alderman Clarke, was looking for common cause among struggling football clubs. What he got was to be put back in his place.
I'm sure I wasn't alone, as Leeds United ground their way through the winter of 2024/25 season, whose mind went back to 1931/32's attempt at promotion from the Second Division.
A stubborn manager, a board that wouldn't pay for new players, a disputed style of play, bored fans: Elland Road in 2024 felt a lot like Elland Road in 1931.
I decided to use the next couple of weeks to tell the story of that season, when the future of the young Peacocks was hotly debated in their own city.
The story so far:
The young blood slogan: 1931/32 season, part one ⭑ Leeds United were relegated from the First Division in 1931, denting soccer's growth in a rugby obsessed city. But the manager was backing his young players to bounce back — and backing himself.
It's a long time since there was such enthusiasm: 1931/32 season, part two ⭑ Leeds United's young players couldn't score at Elland Road, but the explanation seemed simple. The fans.
Willis Edwards breaks his nose: 1931/32 season, part three ⭑ Leeds were the outstanding side in the Second Division, a fine tribute to manager Dick Ray. But his young squad needed their best players to be at their best.
Leeds United's priority for 1932 was getting Dick Ray's defiantly young squad back into the First Division, but they couldn't afford not to spare a thought for the FA Cup. Defeat at QPR was not only embarrassing, their defeat to a team from the Third Division (South) being arguably the shock of the round, but it was expensive. The club was going to miss potential windfalls from the FA Cup, which were even more important since relegation.
Average attendance for league games at Elland Road was coming out to 14,000 in the Second Division; that was actually higher than 13,400 during relegation from the First Division. The average in the Peacocks' three top-flight seasons was 18,600. But in 1930/31 two FA Cup games had each brought over 40,000 to Beeston; 31,400 had come to an easy 8-1 FA Cup win over Third Division (South) side Crystal Palace the season before that; no home cup tie had attracted less than 20,000 spectators to Elland Road since 1922. While Dick Ray was proving an ideal manager for a cash-strapped club, preferring to find non-league bargains and develop them rather than buy at full-price for the first team, some more money in the coffers, if only to pay the bondholders, would have been welcome. The previous season's low gates, as the team dropped out of the First Division, had contributed to an annual loss of £1,286. The gate receipts for the QPR game alone, split between the two clubs and the FA, were £2,300.
Leeds United's Championship winning season, game by game, as written at Leedsista.com.
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The Leeds chairman, Alderman Eric Clarke, brought more attention to the Peacocks' finances during a speech at a sportsmans' luncheon in Leeds. He was trying to claim, however, that Leeds weren't the only club with problems. He said that the new Means Test for unemployment benefits was impacting gates — although in his view it was better that money was staying with the Exchequer, rather than finding its way from unemployed hands through the gates to Leeds United. He went on:
Gates are definitely down, and there are only six clubs today making a profit — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Aston Villa, and West Bromwich Albion. No other teams in the league, from my knowledge and from my information, are doing more than barely making ends meet. Clubs should cut down their staffs and players. I say unhesitatingly that this summer there will be many footballers out of work because clubs cannot pay them summer wages.
A professional footballer to-day has a whole-time job, but I can imagine the day when he will no longer be paid a weekly salary and trained, but paid for each match in which he plays and left to fend for himself and keep himself in training during the week.