Season of promise which delivered all

Mar 29 2008 by Delme Parfitt, South Wales Echo

Season of promise which delivered all

BY the time 25,000 people crammed into Ninian Park on January 26, 1952 to watch Cardiff City play Southampton, the Bluebirds were vying for top spot in the old Division Two.

The 1951-52 season had begun with City chairman Herbert Merrett declaring that he expected the club to be back in the top flight within five years.

He would not have expected in his wildest dreams that his demand would be fulfilled in the space of just 12 months. And yet nobody could have foreseen such a glorious campaign given the unfortunate events of pre-season.

In the annual public trial match, held a week before the opening game against Leicester City, goalkeeper Phil Joslin badly broke his leg in a collision with Wilf Grant.

The injury spelled the end of his career and forced manager Cyril Spiers to act quickly in bringing in Luton Town’s Welsh international stopper Iorwerth Hughes as a replacement for a fee of £15,000.

On top of that a cricketing injury ruled out centre-half stalwart Stan Montgomery for the first few weeks.

And yet the club made light of the problems in beating the Foxes 4-0 on August 18, in a match that marked the return to the club of former player Arthur “Buller” Lever.

On the day Southampton came to town Wilf Grant had already hit the back of the net 18 times in the league and he would finish with an overall tally of 26.

There was pressure on the Bluebirds that day as only a week earlier they had been dismal in a 3-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park in front of 49,000 fans.

But they got back to winning ways, with Grant’s second-half header proving the difference – and propelling City to the summit of the league. It wasn’t all plain sailing from there on in though.

City still lost four more league games, including a 6-1 hiding at Sheffield United on March 12, but the fixture list favoured them when they reached the final furlong.

Of their six final league matches, five were at home – and Spiers’ side won them all, accounting for Notts County, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bury and on May 3, the final weekend of the season, Leeds United.

It was fitting that Grant fired two goals in a 3-1 win against the Elland Road outfit and the victory assured the club of a second place finish behind Sheffield Wednesday.

The match took place on the same day as the FA Cup final between Newcastle United and Arsenal and the weather was appallingly wet. But nobody at Ninian that day cared.

Delirious fans – the clash was watched by a staggering crowd of 52,000 – invaded the pitch in celebration at the final whistle and chairman Merrett and captain Alf Sherwood addressed them from the directors’ box with victory speeches.

Consistency, something the current City side could do with now, had been the key to success.