1962–63 Huddersfield Town F.C. season

Huddersfield Town
1962–63 season
Chairman Dick Parker
Manager Eddie Boot
Division Two 6th
FA Cup Third Round
Football League Cup Second Round
Top goalscorer League:
Derek Stokes (18)
All:
Derek Stokes (18)
Highest home attendance 34,946 vs Leeds United (1 September 1962)
Lowest home attendance 7,964 vs Swansea Town (6 May 1963)

Huddersfield Town's 1962–63 campaign was an impressive season for the Terriers. They finished 6th in Division 2, just 4 points off Chelsea, who took the second promotion spot to Division 1. They finished their campaign on the same points as Leeds United.

Contents

Squad at the start of the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
-- GK Harry Fearnley
-- GK Ray Wood
-- DF Denis Atkins
-- DF John Coddington
-- DF Stewart Holden
-- DF Ray Holt
-- DF Bob Parker
-- DF Pat Saward
-- DF Ken Taylor
-- DF Ray Wilson
-- MF John Bettany
-- MF Ollie Conmy
No. Position Player
-- MF Peter Dinsdale
-- MF Billy Fraser
-- MF John McCann
-- MF Kevin McHale
-- MF John Milner
-- MF Michael O'Grady
-- FW Chris Balderstone
-- FW Allan Gilliver
-- FW Les Massie
-- FW Derek Stokes
-- FW Len White

Review

After the success of the previous season, Town under Eddie Boot were hoping to mount yet another promotion push to Division 1. An impressive start to the season saw Town unbeaten in their first 13 league games of the season. This run was ended by a home defeat from Southampton on October 27. A mixed November and December saw Town lose ground, but an amazingly cold snap during the winter would see the team out of action for 3 months at Leeds Road. During that time, Town played only 3 away league games and an FA Cup game at Manchester United. Town would have to play their last 20 games in 2 and a half months.

It was a tall order and Town's impressive start to the season slowly evaporated. Too many draws and losses during the period saw Town lose ground with the leading pack of Stoke City, Chelsea and Sunderland. A win over Leeds United in May, gave Town a faint hope of promotion, but 2 defeats to Portsmouth and Cardiff City saw Town finish down in 6th place with 48 points.

Squad at the end of the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
-- GK Harry Fearnley
-- GK Ray Wood
-- DF Denis Atkins
-- DF John Coddington
-- DF Stewart Holden
-- DF Ray Holt
-- DF Bob Parker
-- DF Ken Taylor
-- DF Ray Wilson
-- MF John Bettany
-- MF Ollie Conmy
No. Position Player
-- MF Peter Dinsdale
-- MF Billy Fraser
-- MF Kevin McHale
-- MF John Milner
-- MF Michael O'Grady
-- FW Chris Balderstone
-- FW Allan Gilliver
-- FW Les Massie
-- FW John Rudge
-- FW Derek Stokes
-- FW Len White

Results

Division Two

Date Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance Position
18 August 1962 Derby County H 3–3 O'Grady, Stokes, Barrowclough (og) 10,660 8th
21 August 1962 Walsall A 1–1 Stokes 13,505 8th
25 August 1962 Middlesbrough A 5–0 Stokes (2), Jones (og), Wilson, McHale 18,470 4th
29 August 1962 Walsall H 4–0 Massie (2), O'Grady, White 12,310 1st
1 September 1962 Leeds United H 1–1 White 34,946 6th
5 September 1962 Norwich City A 3–2 O'Grady (3) 28,794 1st
8 September 1962 Cardiff City H 1–0 White 17,573 1st
12 September 1962 Norwich City H 0–0 13,285 1st
15 September 1962 Portsmouth A 1–1 Stokes 18,410 1st
22 September 1962 Preston North End H 1–0 White 17,594 1st
29 September 1962 Plymouth Argyle A 1–1 Stokes 20,125 1st
6 October 1962 Swansea Town A 2–1 White, Stokes 11,024 1st
13 October 1962 Chelsea H 1–0 Stokes 23,936 1st
27 October 1962 Southampton H 2–3 Massie, White 15,589 2nd
2 November 1962 Scunthorpe United A 2–2 Balderstone (2) 8,908 1st
10 November 1962 Bury H 0–1 17,214 5th
17 November 1962 Rotherham United A 2–0 Stokes, McHale 11,589 5th
24 November 1962 Charlton Athletic H 2–0 White (pen), Dinsdale 12,435 3rd
1 December 1962 Stoke City A 1–2 Stokes 29,856 5th
8 December 1962 Sunderland H 0–3 21,260 5th
15 December 1962 Derby County A 1–2 O'Grady 9,076 7th
29 December 1962 Grimsby Town A 1–1 McHale 9,814 7th
2 March 1963 Chelsea A 2–1 O'Grady, White 32,427 9th
9 March 1963 Luton Town H 2–0 Stokes, Kelly (og) 10,279 7th
16 March 1963 Luton Town A 2–3 Balderstone, O'Grady 5,507 9th
20 March 1963 Southampton A 1–3 Stokes 11,957 10th
23 March 1963 Scunthorpe United H 2–0 Stokes, White 11,002 10th
30 March 1963 Bury A 1–1 White 7,768 7th
1 April 1963 Plymouth Argyle H 4–2 Stokes (2), Massie (2) 8,452 5th
6 April 1963 Rotherham United H 1–0 Stokes 14,015 6th
12 April 1963 Newcastle United A 1–1 O'Grady 49,672 6th
13 April 1963 Charlton Athletic A 0–1 13,008 7th
16 April 1963 Newcastle United H 2–1 Coddington (pen), McHale 22,022 6th
20 April 1963 Stoke City H 3–3 White, Stokes (2) 27,779 6th
24 April 1963 Grimsby Town H 0–0 14,281 6th
27 April 1963 Sunderland A 1–1 O'Grady 37,098 6th
29 April 1963 Middlesbrough H 0–0 14,000 4th
4 May 1963 Preston North End A 0–2 11,770 6th
6 May 1963 Swansea Town H 4–1 Bettany, White, McHale, Gilliver 7,964 6th
11 May 1963 Leeds United A 1–0 McHale 28,501 4th
13 May 1963 Portsmouth H 1–3 White 12,854 4th
18 May 1963 Cardiff City A 0–3 8,774 5th
  • Town didn't drop to 6th until Leeds United played their matches at a later date.

FA Cup

Date Round Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance
4 March 1963 Round 3 Manchester United A 0–5 47,703

Football League Cup

Date Round Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance
26 September 1962 Round 2 Bradford Park Avenue A 1–3 Balderstone 6,931

Appearances and goals

Name Nation Position League Apps League Goals FA Cup Apps FA Cup Goals League Cup Apps League Cup Goals Total Apps Total Goals
Denis Atkins  England DF 41 0 1 0 1 0 43 0
Chris Balderstone  England MF 17 3 0 0 1 1 18 4
John Bettany  England MF 20 1 1 0 1 0 22 1
John Coddington  England DF 26 1 0 0 0 0 26 1
Ollie Conmy  Republic of Ireland MF 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 0
Peter Dinsdale  England DF 42 1 1 0 1 1 44 1
Harry Fearnley  England GK 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Allan Gilliver  England FW 3 1 0 0 1 0 4 1
Stewart Holden  England MF 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
Ray Holt  England DF 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Les Massie  Scotland FW 33 5 1 0 0 0 34 5
John McCann  Scotland MF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Kevin McHale  England MF 37 6 1 0 0 0 38 6
John Milner  England MF 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 0
Michael O'Grady  England MF 41 10 1 0 0 0 42 10
Bob Parker  England DF 5 0 1 0 1 0 7 0
John Rudge  England MF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Pat Saward  Republic of Ireland MF 19 0 0 0 0 0 19 0
Derek Stokes  England FW 35 18 1 0 0 0 36 18
Ken Taylor  England DF 21 0 1 0 0 0 22 0
Len White  England FW 40 13 1 0 0 0 41 13
Ray Wilson  England DF 33 1 0 0 0 0 33 1
Ray Wood  England GK 41 0 1 0 1 0 43 0