# 1952–53 Northampton Town F.C. season

The 1952–53 season was Northampton Town's 56th season in their history and the twenty-fifth successive season in the regional Third Division South. Alongside competing in Division Three South, the club also participated in the FA Cup.

## Players

    As of match played 30 April 1953.
| Name | Position | Place of Birth | Date of Birth (Age) | Apps | Goals | Previous club | Date signed | Fee |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| Alf Wood | GK | Aldridge | (1915-05-14)14 May 1915 (aged 37) | 63 | 0 | Coventry City | Summer 1951 | £2,100 |
| Full backs ||||||||||
| Ron Patterson | LB | Gateshead | (1929-10-30)30 October 1929 (aged 23) | 49 | 0 | Middlesbrough | Summer 1952 | |
| Jack Southam | RB | Willenhall | (1917-08-19)19 August 1917 (aged 35) | 104 | 1 | Birmingham City | Summer 1949 | |
| Half backs ||||||||||
| Maurice Candlin | CH | Jarrow | (1921-11-11)11 November 1921 (aged 31) | 152 | 2 | Partick Thistle | Summer 1949 | |
| Ben Collins | CH | Kislingbury | (1928-03-09)9 March 1928 (aged 25) | 78 | 0 | Apprentice | Summer 1948 | N/A |
| John Croy | WH | Falkirk | (1925-02-23)23 February 1925 (aged 28) | 5 | 0 | Third Lanark | Summer 1951 | |
| James Davie | WH | Cambuslang | (1922-09-07)7 September 1922 (aged 30) | 76 | 1 | Preston North End | Summer 1950 | |
| Norman Dodgin | WH | Gateshead | (1921-11-01)1 November 1921 (aged 31) | 19 | 1 | Reading | Summer 1951 | |
| Gwyn Hughes | WH | Blaenau Ffestiniog | (1922-05-07)7 May 1922 (aged 30) | 140 | 15 | Blaenau Ffestiniog Amateur | Summer 1946 | |
| Tom McLain | WH | Morpeth | (1922-01-19)19 January 1922 (aged 31) | 35 | 2 | Sunderland | Summer 1952 | |
| John Smith | WH | Leicester | (1928-09-04)4 September 1928 (aged 24) | 10 | 1 | Apprentice | Summer 1950 | N/A |
| Frank Upton | WH | Atherstone | (1934-10-18)18 October 1934 (aged 18) | 4 | 0 | Nuneaton Borough | Summer 1952 | |
| Inside/Outside forwards ||||||||||
| Jack English | OF | South Shields | (1923-03-19)19 March 1923 (aged 30) | 151 | 64 | Apprentice | Summer 1947 | N/A |
| Tommy Fowler | OF | Prescot | (1924-12-16)16 December 1924 (aged 28) | 200 | 40 | Everton | Summer 1946 | |
| Felix Staroscik | OF | Silesia | (1920-05-20)20 May 1920 (aged 32) | 25 | 7 | Third Lanark | Summer 1951 | |
| Don Adams | IF | Northampton | (1931-02-15)15 February 1931 (aged 22) | 9 | 4 | Apprentice | Summer 1951 | N/A |
| Larry Baxter | IF | Leicester | (1931-11-24)24 November 1931 (aged 21) | 11 | 2 | Apprentice | Summer 1952 | N/A |
| Maurice Edelston | IF | Kingston upon Hull | (1918-04-27)27 April 1918 (aged 35) | 33 | 15 | Reading | Summer 1952 | |
| Ken Leek | IF | Ynysybwl | (1935-07-26)26 July 1935 (aged 17) | 0 | 0 | Apprentice | Summer 1952 | N/A |
| Fred Ramscar | IF | Salford | (1919-01-24)24 January 1919 (aged 34) | 95 | 47 | Preston North End | Summer 1951 | |
| Centre forwards ||||||||||
| Willie O'Donnell | CF | Clydebank | (1924-08-09)9 August 1924 (aged 28) | 71 | 37 | Partick Thistle | Summer 1951 | |

## Competitions
### Division Three South
#### League table

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Bristol Rovers | 46 | 26 | 12 | 8 | 92 | 46 | 2.000 | 64 | Division Champions, promoted |
| 2 | Millwall | 46 | 24 | 14 | 8 | 82 | 44 | 1.864 | 62 | |
| 3 | Northampton Town | 46 | 26 | 10 | 10 | 109 | 70 | 1.557 | 62 | |
| 4 | Norwich City | 46 | 25 | 10 | 11 | 99 | 55 | 1.800 | 60 | |
| 5 | Bristol City | 46 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 95 | 61 | 1.557 | 59 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 46 | 26 | 10 | 10 | 109 | 70 | 1.557 | 62 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 75 | 30 | 40 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 34 | 40 | 22 |
Last updated: 20 May 2020. Source:

#### League position by match

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | A | H |
| Result | W | L | W | W | L | W | W | D | L | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | W | L | L | D | D | D | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | W | W | D | W | D |
| Position | 10 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

### Appearances and goals

| Pos | Player | Division Three (S) | Division Three (S) | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos | Player | Starts | Goals | Starts | Goals | Starts | Goals |
| GK | Alf Wood | 46 | – | 3 | – | 49 | – |
| FB | Ron Patterson | 46 | – | 3 | – | 49 | – |
| FB | Jack Southam | 46 | 1 | 3 | – | 49 | 1 |
| HB | Maurice Candlin | 28 | – | 3 | – | 31 | – |
| HB | Ben Collins | 19 | – | – | – | 19 | – |
| HB | John Croy | 2 | – | – | – | 2 | – |
| HB | James Davie | 11 | – | – | – | 11 | – |
| HB | Norman Dodgin | 14 | 1 | – | – | 14 | 1 |
| HB | Gwyn Hughes | 29 | 1 | 3 | – | 32 | 1 |
| HB | Tom McLain | 32 | 2 | 3 | – | 35 | 2 |
| HB | John Smith | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| HB | Frank Upton | 4 | – | – | – | 4 | – |
| OF | Jack English | 45 | 24 | 3 | – | 48 | 24 |
| OF | Tommy Fowler | 46 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 49 | 12 |
| OF | Felix Staroscik | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| IF | Don Adams | 2 | 1 | – | – | 2 | 1 |
| IF | Larry Baxter | 11 | 2 | – | – | 11 | 2 |
| IF | Maurice Edelston | 30 | 15 | 3 | – | 33 | 15 |
| IF | Fred Ramscar | 45 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 48 | 23 |
| IF | Ken Leek | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| CF | Willie O'Donnell | 46 | 27 | 3 | – | 49 | 27 |
| Players who left before end of season: ||||||||
| IF | Tommy Mulgrew | 3 | – | – | – | 3 | – |