1937–38 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa
1937–38 season
Chairman	Fred Normansell
Manager	Jimmy Hogan
2nd Division	1st
FA Cup	Third round
	Home colours
	Home colours

The 1937–38 English football season was Aston Villa's 46th season in The Football League, Villa playing in the Football League Second Division, winning promotion as champions.

In the summer of 1938 Villa toured Nazi Germany.^[1] The day before their first match, the England football team bowed to pressure from the British Foreign Office and performed the Nazi salute during a friendly match on 14 May 1938.^[2] Despite this diplomatic protocol the Birmingham Gazette reported the performance of Villa's Frank Broome beside headline, “GESTAPO”, in which it detailed the surveillance of 20,000 Germans in England by the German Secret Police.

The atmosphere in the Villa's first match against a German Select XI was in marked contrast to the England game with continual jeering and whistling. Villa's use of the offside trap was unfamiliar and frustrating to the German players and fans. When future Villa manager, Alex Massie fouled Camillo Jerusalem, the referee needed to separate the teams. Hostility from the 110,000 crowd intensified when the Villa players left the pitch without the required Nazi salute and Joseph Goebbels was called to suppress subsequent hostile German press coverage.^[3]

The second game, in Düsseldorf, passed without incident but, following the third match, in Stuttgart, SS guards and Stormtroopers were needed to protect the players from the crowd.^[3] During the war TIME Magazine would report that the Villa reserve team, all captured at Dunkirk, thrashed their captor SS guards.^[4]

There were debuts for Frank Shell, Bill Carey,^[5] Tommy Clayton ^[6] and Jeff Barker.^[7]

Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GAv	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Aston Villa	42	17	2	2	50	12	8	5	8	23	23	2.086	57	Division Champions, promoted
2	Manchester United	42	15	3	3	50	18	7	6	8	32	32	1.640	53	Promoted
3	Sheffield United	42	15	4	2	46	19	7	5	9	27	37	1.304	53
4	Coventry City	42	12	5	4	31	15	8	7	6	35	30	1.467	52
5	Tottenham Hotspur	42	14	3	4	46	16	5	3	13	30	38	1.407	44
6	Burnley	42	15	4	2	35	11	2	6	13	19	43	1.000	44
7	Bradford Park Avenue	42	13	4	4	51	22	4	5	12	18	34	1.232	43
8	Fulham	42	10	7	4	44	23	6	4	11	17	34	1.070	43
9	West Ham United	42	13	5	3	34	16	1	9	11	19	36	1.019	42
10	Bury	42	12	3	6	43	26	6	2	13	20	34	1.050	41
11	Chesterfield	42	12	2	7	39	24	4	7	10	24	39	1.000	41
12	Luton Town	42	10	6	5	53	36	5	4	12	36	50	1.035	40
13	Plymouth Argyle	42	10	7	4	40	30	4	5	12	17	35	0.877	40
14	Norwich City	42	11	5	5	35	28	3	6	12	21	47	0.747	39
15	Southampton	42	12	6	3	42	26	3	3	15	13	51	0.714	39
16	Blackburn Rovers	42	13	6	2	51	30	1	4	16	20	50	0.888	38
17	Sheffield Wednesday	42	10	5	6	27	21	4	5	12	22	35	0.875	38
18	Swansea Town	42	12	6	3	31	21	1	6	14	14	52	0.616	38
19	Newcastle United	42	12	4	5	38	18	2	4	15	13	40	0.879	36
20	Nottingham Forest	42	12	3	6	29	21	2	5	14	18	39	0.783	36
21	Barnsley	42	7	11	3	30	20	4	3	14	20	44	0.781	36	Relegated
22	Stockport County	42	8	6	7	24	24	3	3	15	19	46	0.614	31	Relegated

Source:

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Notes	Scorers
28 Aug 1937	West Ham United	Villa Park	2–0	—	Freddie Haycock 14', John Maund 29'
1 Sep 1937	Luton Town	Kenilworth Road	2–3	—	John Maund, Alex Massie 54'
4 Sep 1937	Southampton	The Dell	0–0	—	—
6 Sep 1937	Luton Town	Villa Park	4–1	—	Frank Broome 6', 35', Charlie Phillips 27', 43'
11 Sep 1937	Blackburn Rovers	Villa Park	2–1	—	Freddie Haycock 13', John Maund 28'
16 Sep 1937	Norwich City	Carrow Road	0–1	—	—
18 Sep 1937	Sheffield Wednesday	Hillsborough	2–1	—	Freddie Haycock 2', Bob Iverson 65'
25 Sep 1937	Fulham	Villa Park	2–0	—	Frank Broome 35', Freddie Haycock 75'
2 Oct 1937	Plymouth Argyle	Home Park	3–0	—	Frank Broome 44', 50', Eric Houghton
9 Oct 1937	Chesterfield	Villa Park	0–2	—	—
16 Oct 1937	Newcastle United	Villa Park	2–0	—	Eric Houghton 53', 56'
23 Oct 1937	Nottingham Forest	City Ground	2–0	—	Frank Broome 58', Eric Houghton 72'
30 Oct 1937	Coventry City	Villa Park	1–1	—	Eric Houghton 53'
6 Nov 1937	Bury	Gigg Lane	1–1	—	Freddie Haycock 21'
13 Nov 1937	Burnley	Villa Park	0–0	—	—
20 Nov 1937	Manchester United	Old Trafford	1–3	—	Bob Iverson 79'
27 Nov 1937	Sheffield United	Villa Park	1–0	—	Tommy Clayton 25'
4 Dec 1937	Tottenham Hotspur	White Hart Lane	1–2	—	Eric Houghton 85'
11 Dec 1937	Stockport County	Villa Park	7–1	—	Frank Shell 3', 35', 80', Eric Houghton 38', Freddie Haycock 42', Frank Broome 60', 62'
18 Dec 1937	Barnsley	Oakwell	1–0	—	Frank Shell 17'
27 Dec 1937	Bradford Park Avenue	Park Avenue	2–1	—	Frank Shell 47', Freddie Haycock 89'
28 Dec 1937	Barnsley	Villa Park	3–0	—	Alex Massie 40', Frank Broome 49', 67'
1 Jan 1938	West Ham United	Upton Park	1–1	—	Own goal 67'
15 Jan 1938	Southampton	Villa Park	3–0	—	Freddie Haycock 25', 80', Eric Houghton 88'
27 Jan 1938	Blackburn Rovers	Ewood Park	0–1	—	—
29 Jan 1938	Sheffield Wednesday	Villa Park	4–3	—	Ronnie Starling 24', 25', Eric Houghton 46', Frank Broome 85'
5 Feb 1938	Fulham	Craven Cottage	1–1	—	Eric Houghton 40'
19 Feb 1938	Chesterfield	Saltergate	1–0	—	Frank Broome 89'
23 Feb 1938	Plymouth Argyle	Villa Park	3–0	—	John Maund, Freddie Haycock, Frank Broome
26 Feb 1938	Newcastle United	St James’ Park	0–2	—	—
9 Mar 1938	Nottingham Forest	Villa Park	1–2	—	George Hardy 82'
12 Mar 1938	Coventry City	Highfield Road	1–0	—	Ronnie Starling 72'
19 Mar 1938	Bury	Villa Park	2–1	—	Frank Broome 52', Freddie Haycock 65'
2 Apr 1938	Manchester United	Villa Park	3–0	—	Frank Broome 24', John Maund 50', Eric Houghton 70' (pen)
5 Apr 1938	Burnley	Turf Moor	0–3	—	—
9 Apr 1938	Sheffield United	Bramall Lane	0–0	—	—
16 Apr 1938	Tottenham Hotspur	Villa Park	2–0	—	Frank Broome 35', 85'
18 Apr 1938	Swansea Town	Vetch Field	1–2	—	Ronnie Starling
19 Apr 1938	Swansea Town	Villa Park	4–0	—	Bob Iverson 16', Frank Shell 72', 83', Eric Houghton
23 Apr 1938	Stockport County	Edgeley Park	3–1	—	Freddie Haycock 17', Frank Broome 18', 49'
27 Apr 1938	Bradford Park Avenue	Villa Park	2–0	—	Frank Broome 17', Freddie Haycock 37'
7 May 1938	Norwich City	Villa Park	2–0	—	Frank Shell 50', Freddie Haycock

Source: avfchistory.co.uk

FA Cup

References

^ "Aston Villa Football Club | the official club website".
^ Football, fascism and England's Nazi salute, BBC Magazine, 22 September 2003
^ ^a ^b "Aston Villa, the Offside Trap and the Nazi Salute". 29 June 2018.
^ Game Called. TIME Magazine, 0040781X, 1/13/1941, Vol. 37, Issue 2
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/bill-carey
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/tommy-clayton
^ "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.

External links

avfchistory.co.uk The Matches

[1] "Aston Villa Football Club | the official club website".

[2] Football, fascism and England's Nazi salute, BBC Magazine, 22 September 2003

[VNS-3] "Aston Villa, the Offside Trap and the Nazi Salute". 29 June 2018.

[4] Game Called. TIME Magazine, 0040781X, 1/13/1941, Vol. 37, Issue 2

[5] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/bill-carey

[6] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/tommy-clayton

[7] "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.

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[6]

[7]

Aston Villa F.C. seasons
1870s	1870–71 1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80
1880s	1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890s	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900s	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

Second Division

Matches

FA Cup

See also

References

External links