Birmingham City F.C.
1958–59 season
ChairmanHarry Morris Jr
Manager
GroundSt Andrew's
Football League First Division9th
FA CupFifth round (eliminated by Nottingham Forest)
Inter-Cities Fairs CupSemi-final
Top goalscorerLeague: Bunny Larkin (18)
All: Bunny Larkin (23)
Highest home attendance55,300 vs Nottingham Forest, FA Cup 5th round, 14 February 1959
Lowest home attendance17,241 vs Blackpool, 13 December 1958
Average home league attendance26,893

The 1958–59 Football League season was Birmingham City Football Club's 56th in the Football League and their 32nd in the First Division. After spending the first half of the season towards the bottom of the division, they finished in 9th position in the 22-team division. They entered the 1958–59 FA Cup at the third round proper and lost to Nottingham Forest in the fifth round after two replays. In the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Birmingham progressed through two rounds to reach the semi-final, which was not played until the 1959–60 season.

Towards the end of the season, Birmingham and England full-back Jeff Hall contracted polio and died, only 14 days after the last match in which he played. The death of a young, fit, international footballer helped to kick-start widespread public acceptance in Britain of the need for vaccination. Though the disease was generally feared and the Salk vaccine was available, takeup had been slow. In the weeks following Hall's death, and after his widow spoke on television about her loss, demand for immunisation rocketed. Emergency vaccination clinics had to be set up and supplies of vaccine flown in from the United States to cope with the demand.[1][2][3]

In January 1958, Pat Beasley joined the club. Beasley had believed he was coming as assistant to manager Arthur Turner, but chairman Harry Morris announced to the press that he was to be appointed joint manager. Turner, who found about this arrangement not from the club but from the press, threatened to resign. He was persuaded to stay "for the time being", but finally left in September 1958, and Beasley took over as manager.[4] Twenty-four players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were thirteen different goalscorers. Half backs Dick Neal and Johnny Watts played in 49 and 48 of the 52 first-team matches over the season, and Bunny Larkin finished as leading goalscorer with 23 goals in all competitions, of which 18 were scored in the league.

Football League First Division

DateLeague
position		Opponents VenueResultScore
F–A		Scorers Attendance
23 August 1958 10thAston VillaA D1–1Murphy 55,198
27 August 1958 11thWest Bromwich AlbionA D2–2Brown, Houghton 46,468
30 August 1958 14thLuton TownH L0–1 31,943
3 September 1958 21stWest Bromwich AlbionH L0–6 35,983
6 September 1958 21stBolton WanderersA L0–2 24,707
10 September 1958 21stLeeds UnitedH D0–0 25,228
13 September 1958 19thBurnleyH W2–1Brown, Murphy 23,926
17 September 1958 16thLeeds UnitedA W4–1Brown 4 24,068
20 September 1958 18thPreston North EndA L0–3 24,257
27 September 1958 14thLeicester CityH W4–2Gordon, Murphy, Hooper, Astall 33,323
4 October 1958 18thEvertonA L1–3Murphy 39,408
11 October 1958 17thWest Ham UnitedA W2–1Hooper, Neal 29,139
18 October 1958 17thNottingham ForestH L0–3 31,610
25 October 1958 19thWolverhampton WanderersA L1–3Astall 36,156
1 November 1958 20thPortsmouthH W2–2Brown, Taylor 23,723
8 November 1958 19thBlackburn RoversA L2–3Brown, Larkin 28,806
15 November 1958 19thNewcastle UnitedH W1–0Larkin 28,752
22 November 1958 17thTottenham HotspurA W4–0Larkin 2, Hooper, Taylor 28,708
29 November 1958 19thManchester UnitedH L0–4 28,658
6 December 1958 20thChelseaA L0–1 27,773
13 December 1958 18thBlackpoolH W4–2Jackson, Gordon, Larkin, Astall 17,241
20 December 1958 15thAston VillaH W4–1Jackson 2, Astall, Neal 31,857
26 December 1958 15thManchester CityH W6–1Jackson 2, Gordon, Larkin, Taylor 34,290
27 December 1958 16thManchester CityA L1–4Jackson 29,276
3 January 1959 13thLuton TownA W1–0Neal 15,538
31 January 1959 12thBurnleyA W1–0Gordon 22,101
7 February 1959 11thPreston North EndH W5–1Orritt, Gordon, Larkin, Taylor 21,233
21 February 1959 10thEvertonH W2–1Larkin, Hooper 22,660
28 February 1959 8thWest Ham UnitedH W3–0Larkin, Neal 19,910
7 March 1959 8thNottingham ForestA W7–1Stubbs 2, Gordon, Astall 2, Hooper, Watts 18,977
14 March 1959 8thWolverhampton WanderersH L0–3 37,725
18 March 1959 6thLeicester CityA W4–2Stubbs 3, Gordon 15,413
21 March 1959 6thPortsmouthA D1–1Larkin 18,170
8 April 1959 10thBolton WanderersH L1–3Stubbs 24,608
11 April 1959 10thTottenham HotspurH W5–1Stubbs, Gordon, Larkin, Hooper pen, Baker og 20,557
14 April 1959 9thArsenalH W4–1Stubbs, Larkin 2, Astall 25,792
18 April 1959 10thManchester UnitedA L0–1 43,006
20 April 1959 10thBlackpoolA L0–2 12,260
22 April 1959 10thBlackburn RoversH W3–0Larkin 2, Taylor 22,958
25 April 1959 9thChelseaH W4–1Gordon 2, Hooper, Taylor 19,580
29 April 1959 9thNewcastle UnitedA D1–1Hooper 19,776
4 May 1959 9thArsenalA L1–2Stubbs 25,953

League table (part)

Final First Division table (part)
Pos Club Pld W D L F A GA Pts
7th Burnley4219101381701.1648
8th Blackpool4218111366491.3547
9th Birmingham City422061684681.2446
10th Blackburn Rovers4217101576701.0944
11th Newcastle United421771880801.0041
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 [5]

FA Cup

Round DateOpponentsVenue ResultScore
F–A		Scorers Attendance
Third round 25 January 1959MiddlesbroughA W1–0Harris og 36,587
Fourth round 28 January 1959FulhamH D1–1Jackson 42,677
Fourth round replay 4 February 1959FulhamA W3–2Hooper 2, Larkin 27,521
Fifth round 14 February 1959Nottingham ForestH D1–1Astall 55,300
Fifth round replay 18 February 1959Nottingham ForestA D1–1Gordon 39,431
Fifth round 2nd replay 23 February 1959Nottingham ForestFilbert Street, Leicester L0–5 34,458

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Round DateOpponentsVenue ResultScore
F–A		Scorers Attendance
First round 1st leg 14 October 1958Cologne XIA D2–2Neal, Hooper 12,000
First round 2nd leg 11 November 1958CologneH W2–0Larkin, Taylor 20,266
Second round 1st leg 6 May 1959Zagreb XIH W1–0Larkin 21,411
Second round 2nd leg 24 May 1959Zagreb XIA D3–3Larkin 2, Hooper 50,000

Appearances and goals

  • Players with name struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season.
Players having played at least one first-team match
Pos. Nat. Name League FA Cup Fairs Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
GK ENG Gil Merrick 3406020420
GK ENG Johnny Schofield 800020100
FB ENG George Allen 2706030360
FB ENG Brian Farmer 1300020150
FB ENG Ken Green 1500010160
FB ENG Jeff Hall 2906020370
HB SCO Billy Hume 20000020
HB ENG Dick Neal 3946041495
HB ENG Graham Sissons 1600020180
HB ENG Trevor Smith 2706020350
HB ENG Johnny Watts 3816040481
FW ENG Gordon Astall 2685110329
FW ENG Eddy Brown† 1780020198
FW ENG Johnny Gordon 331061404311
FW ENG Mike Hellawell 10000010
FW ENG Harry Hooper 34842424212
FW ENG Bud Houghton† 21000021
FW SCO Alex Jackson† 664100107
FW ENG David Jones 40000040
FW ENG Bunny Larkin 311861344023
FW ENG Peter Murphy 1040010114
FW WAL Bryan Orritt 1213010161
FW ENG Robin Stubbs 1290020149
FW ENG Brian Taylor 2652021306

See also

References

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 1958–1959: Results". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  • Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 352–53, 473–74.
  • Source for kit: "Birmingham City". Historical Football Kits. Dave Moor. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

Specific

  1. ↑ Gould, Tony (30 April 1995). "'I thought my polio was over, but not any longer'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2022. In the same month and year that I contracted the disease in Hong Kong, the international footballer Jeff Hall died of it in England. Before the end of the Second World War polio had been a comparatively rare disease in Britain. But the late Forties and early Fifties were the polio years here as elsewhere, the time when parents grew anxious as the summer approached and kept their children away from swimming pools where the disease was thought to spread. Though polio was never a killer on the scale of cancer and heart disease, it was feared because of its capacity to maim young and healthy bodies. Despite this universal fear, take-up of the Salk vaccine when it became available in this country in the mid-Fifties was sluggish. Jeff Hall's death changed that. The message finally got through to teenagers on the terraces at football matches and in the Mecca dance-halls. Emergency clinics were set up, and there was such a run on the vaccine that further supplies had to be flown in from the United States.
  2. ↑ "Dr Salk promotes polio vaccine in UK". On This Day. BBC. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022. There has been a sharp rise in the demand for the vaccine following the death from the disease of Birmingham City full back Jeff Hall last month. Local health departments have been overwhelmed with applicants and have ordered an extra million doses. On 22 April daily inoculations at Manchester Town Hall were suspended because of a shortage of the vaccine.
  3. ↑ Varma, Anuji (14 June 2009). "The Blues ace whose death moved a nation to beat polio". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. Archived from the original on 22 November 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 62.
  5. ↑ "Birmingham City 1958–1959: English Division One (old) Table". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
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