1940-41 Wartime League

From TheChels.info - The Chelsea Football Club Wiki

With the war continuing, football was in an extremely transitional situation. It was also somewhat revamped with just two regional competitions; Chelsea playing in the Football League South, along with 33 other teams and there was virtually only weekend football being played. As a result, the League Table, shown at the end, is not truly reflective of the situation as places were decided, not on points accrued, but on goal difference! However, the number of games played varied between just 10 (by Coventry City) and an incredible 36 by Stoke City.

Guest players were used even more extensively now as more and more of the eligible men were being utilised in the armed forces and going abroad.

It seems that the Reserves played in the London Junior Competition Cup, but information is somewhat scarce, however the known fixtures are shown below.
No other information regarding line-ups and scorers is known about any of these matches.
It would appear that this was a competition for players aged under 20-years-of-age (from an article in the Daily Express in the first week of September 1940).

1940-41 season
{{{image}}}
0Manager	Billy Birrell
0League	Football League South
0Position	21st
0FA Cup	{{{fa_cup}}}
0League Cup	{{{league_cup}}}
0Champions League	{{{champions_league}}}
0Top scorer	Richard Spence (15)

Contents 1 League table 2 Matches 3 Reserves 4 Squad statistics

League table

Football League South

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
1	Crystal Palace	27	16	4	7	86	44	36	1.955
2	West Ham United	25	14	6	7	70	39	34	1.795
3	Coventry City	10	5	3	2	28	16	13	1.750
4	Arsenal	19	10	5	4	66	38	25	1.737
5	Cardiff City	24	12	5	7	75	50	29	1.500
6	Reading	26	14	5	7	73	51	33	1.431
7	Norwich City	19	9	2	8	73	55	20	1.327
8	Watford	35	15	6	14	96	73	36	1.315
9	Portsmouth	31	16	2	13	92	71	34	1.296
10	Tottenham Hotspur	23	9	5	9	53	41	23	1.293
11	Millwall	31	16	5	10	73	59	37	1.281
12	Walsall	32	14	7	11	100	80	35	1.250
13	West Bromwich Albion	28	13	5	10	83	69	31	1.203
14	Leicester City	33	17	5	11	87	73	39	1.192
15	Northampton Town	30	14	3	13	84	71	31	1.183
16	Bristol City	20	10	2	8	55	48	22	1.146
17	Mansfield Town	29	12	6	11	77	68	30	1.132
18	Charlton Athletic	19	7	4	8	37	34	18	1.088
19	Aldershot	24	14	2	8	73	68	30	1.074
20	Brentford	23	9	3	11	51	51	21	1.000
21	Chelsea	23	10	4	9	57	58	24	0.983
22	Birmingham	16	7	1	8	38	43	15	0.884
23	Fulham	30	10	7	13	62	73	27	0.849
240	Luton Town	35	11	7	17	82	100	29	0.820
25	Stoke City	36	9	9	18	76	96	27	0.792
26	Queens Park Rangers	23	8	3	12	47	60	19	0.783
27	Brighton & Hove Albion	25	8	7	10	51	75	23	0.680
28	Nottingham Forest	25	7	3	15	50	77	17	0.649
29	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	27	9	3	15	59	92	21	0.641
30	Notts County	21	8	3	10	42	66	19	0.636
31	Southend United	29	12	4	13	64	101	28	0.634
32	Southampton	31	4	4	23	53	111	12	0.477
33	Swansea Town	10	2	1	7	12	33	5	0.364
34	Clapron Orient	15	1	3	11	19	66	5	0.288

Matches

Season	Day	D	M	Year	Comp	Opposition	Venue	Result	Score	Additional Information
1940-41	Sat	31	Aug	1940	FLS	Crystal Palace	Away	Lost	3-6
1940-41	Sat	7	Sep	1940	FLS	Brentford	Home	Won	2-1	Abandoned in 79th. min. (Air Raid) but result to stand.
1940-41	Sat	14	Sep	1940	FLS	Tottenham Hotspur	Away	Lost	2-3
1940-41	Sat	21	Sep	1940	FLS	Tottenham Hotspur	Home	Won	4-1
1940-41	Sat	5	Oct	1940	FLS	West Ham United	Home	Drew	1-1
1940-41	Thurs	10	Oct	1940	LPCF	Arsenal	Home	Lost	0-3	No details known
1940-41	Sat	12	Oct	1940	FLS	Queens Park Rangers	Away	Won	3-2
1940-41	Sat	19	Oct	1940	FLS	Queens Park Rangers	Home	Won	3-1
1940-41	Sat	26	Oct	1940	FLS	Millwall	Away	Lost	1-3
1940-41	Sat	2	Nov	1940	FLS	Millwall	Home	Drew	2-2
1940-41	Sat	9	Nov	1940	FLS	Aldershot	Away	Lost	3-5
1940-41	Sat	16	Nov	1940	FLS	Charlton Athletic	Home	Drew	2-2
1940-41	Sat	23	Nov	1940	FLS	Portsmouth	Away	Lost	2-4
1940-41	Sat	30	Nov	1940	FLS	Portsmouth	Home	Lost	0-5
1940-41	Sat	7	Dec	1940	FLS	West Ham United	Away	Lost	2-6
1940-41	Sat	14	Dec	1940	FLS	Crystal Palace	Home	Lost	1-2
1940-41	Sat	21	Dec	1940	FLS	Charlton Athletic	Away	Won	3-1
1940-41	Wed	25	Dec	1940	FLS	Fulham	Home	Won	5-2
1940-41	Tues	28	Dec	1940	FLS	Aldershot	Home	Won	6-0
1940-41	Sat	4	Jan	1941	LC’A’	Aldershot	Away	Lost	0-1
1940-41	Sat	11	Jan	1941	LC’A’	Aldershot	Home	Won	5-1
1940-41	Sat	25	Jan	1941	LC’A’	Brentford	Home	Lost	0-1
1940-41	Sat	1	Feb	1941	LC’A’	Queens Park Rangers	Away	Lost	2-5
1940-41	Sat	8	Feb	1941	LC’A’	Crystal Palace	Away	Drew	3-3
1940-41	Sat	15	Feb	1941	WSC	Portsmouth	Home	Won	3-1
1940-41	Sat	22	Feb	1941	WSC	Portsmouth	Away	Won	4-1
1940-41	Sat	1	Mar	1941	WSC	Brentford	Away	Drew	2-2
1940-41	Sat	8	Mar	1941	WSC	Brentford	Home	Won	3-1
1940-41	Sat	15	Mar	1941	WSC	Queens Park Rangers	Away	Lost	0-2
1940-41	Sat	22	Mar	1941	WSC	Queens Park Rangers	Home	Lost	2-4
1940-41	Sat	29	Mar	1941	LC’A’	Brentford	Away	Drew	2-2
1940-41	Sat	5	Apr	1941	LC’A’	Crystal Palace	Home	Lost	1-3
1940-41	Sat	12	Apr	1941	LC’A’	Fulham	Away	Lost	0-4
1940-41	Mon	14	Apr	1941	FLS	Arsenal	Home	Won	3-1
1940-41	Sat	19	Apr	1941	LC’A’	Fulham	Home	Won	4-3
1940-41	Sat	26	Apr	1941	FLS	Reading	Away	Won	3-2
1940-41	Sat	3	May	1941	LC’A’	Queens Park Rangers	Home	Lost	2-3
1940-41	Sat	10	May	1941	FLS	Cardiff City	Away	Won	2-1
1940-41	Sat	17	May	1941	FLS	Northampton Town	Away	Lost	1-4
1940-41	Sat	24	May	1941	FLS	West Ham United	Away	Drew	3-3

Reserves

Day	D	M	Year	Comp	Opposition	Venue	Result	Score
Sat	31	Aug	1940	LJCC	Crystal Palace	Home	Won	4-0
Sat	7	Sep	1940	LJCC	Brentford	Away	Won	5-0
Sat	14	Sep	1940	LJCC	Clapton Orient	Home		-	Possibly unplayed
Sat	28	Sep	1940	LJCC	Brentford	Home		-	It said "abandoned", but does this mean postponed?
Sat	5	Oct	1940	LJCC	West Ham United	Away		-
Sat	12	Oct	1940	LJCC	Queens Park Rangers	Home		-
Sat	19	Oct	1940	LJCC	Queens Park Rangers	Away	Drew	1-1
Sat	26	Oct	1940	LJCC	Millwall	Home		-
Sat	2	Nov	1940	LJCC	Millwall	Away		-
Sat	7	Dec	1940	LJCC	West Ham United	Home	Won	2-1
Sat	14	Dec	1940	LJCC	Crystal Palace	Away	Won	3-1
Sat	21	Dec	1940	LJCC	Charlton Athletic	Home		-
Sat	18	Jan	1941	LJCC	Brentford	Home		-
Sat	25	Jan	1941	LJCC	Brentford	Away	Won	5-2	Martin scored the Brentford goals
Sat	15	Feb	1941	LJCC	Fulham	Away	Lost	1-4
Sat	1	Mar	1941	LJCC	Charlton Athletic	Away	Won	2-0
Sat	15	Mar	1941	LJCC	Crystal Palace	Away	Won	4-0
Sat	12	Apr	1941	LJCC	West Ham United	Home	Lost	2-4
Mon	14	Apr	1941	LJCC	Queens Park Rangers	Away	Won	2-0
Sat	19	Apr	1941	LJCC	West Ham United	Away		-
Sat	26	Apr	1941	LJCC	Crystal Palace	Away	Lost	6-0
Sat	3	May	1941	LJCC	Millwall	Away	Lost	0-1
Sat	24	May	1941	LJCC	Brentford	Home	Won	3-2
Sat	31	May	1941	LJCC	Millwall	Away	Lost	3-4
Sat	7	June	1941	LJCC	West Ham United	Away	Won	4-1

Squad statistics

Name	League South		War South Cup		London Cup		Total		Notes
	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
David Alexander	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
George Barber	17	0	7	0	6	0	30	0
George Bedford	01	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
Alf Chalkley	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
Les Clatworthy	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	Guest Player
Henry Clifton	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
F. Cronk	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	Guest Player
R. Etherton	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
William Ferguson	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
Dickie Foss	11	5	2	0	3	2	16	7
A. Friend	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	Guest Player
John Galloway	7	3	4	3	6	6	17	12	Guest Player
Ron Greenwood	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	Guest Player
Bob Griffiths	15	1	7	0	5	0	27	1
George Hardwick	1	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	Guest Player
Reg Hipkin	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
C. Hurley	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	Guest Player
John Jackson	15	0	6	0	4	0	25	0
David James	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1
Eric Jones	11	5	0	0	0	0	11	5	Guest Player
Tommy Kiernan	7	5	4	2	6	0	17	7	Guest Player
G. Kilduff	8	5	1	0	0	0	9	5	Guest Player
George Kurz	2	3	9	4	6	5	18	11	Guest Player
W. Lyon	7	0	3	0	0	0	7	3	Guest Player
Jim Macaulay	10	1	4	0	5	0	19	1	Guest Player
Dicky March	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
Joe Mercer	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	Guest Player
George Milburn	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	Guest Player
George Mills	13	7	5	1	0	0	18	8
G. Milton	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
Paddy Molloy	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
John O’Hare	12	0	4	0	0	0	16	0
Charlie Revell	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	Guest Player
Bob Salmond	8	0	3	0	6	0	17	0
Arthur Smith	10	0	2	0	3	0	15	0
George Smith	3	1	6	0	0	0	9	1	Guest Player
Jack Smith	7	3	4	0	0	0	11	3
Dickie Spence	22	15	10	5	6	0	38	20
Albert Tennant	19	2	8	1	1	0	28	3
Sam Weaver	12	2	8	0	6	0	26	2
Vic Woodley	7	0	4	0	2	0	13	0
Missing	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Opponent	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1