By Russell Plummer

The most notable feature of the opening months of 1947 was the weather. The big freeze in February restricted Peterborough United to just a couple of games and the programme was disrupted to such an extent that Posh played their final three Midland League league fixtures in June, winding up with a 2-1 win visiting Barnsley Reserves on the 14th of the month and only just before mid-summer's day!

Posh again finished ninth in the Midland League and reported a profit of £3,162 with gate receipts up to a highest ever £9,902. They boosted the bank balance still further with the sale of right back Jim Wilson to Luton Town for £500. Posh added to their own playing staff with three summer signings, right half Colin Rawson from Nottingham Forest, left winger Jack Ranshaw from Lincoln City and, one of the first real on the field Posh characters, right winger 'Dizzy' Burton.

The season opened with victory over Boston and after half a dozen games unbeaten Posh were top of the table. Curiously, the Supporters' Club were not happy with the running of the club and publicly called for a complete re-organisation at London Road. Their mood was hardly improved when manager Haden announced he would be leaving at the end of the season.

It didn't stop Haden signing Latvian international centre forward Eddy Freiman who opened his Posh account with all three goals in a New Year's Day 1948 win away to Mansfield Reserves. A petition organised by the Supporters' Club asking Haden to reconsider had no effect and Posh began a search for a new player manager, the team, in the meantime, going on to finish a best-to-date sixth place in the final league table.

Exeter City full back Jack Blood eventually got the player manager's job but his appointment was far from being universally welcomed and not even a unanimous decision at boardroom level. The mood of the fans was hardly improved when Freiman, who had scored 22 goals in 21 outings to finish as second top scorer behind 29 goal 'Nat' Brooksbank, was allowed to slip away to, of all clubs, bitter rivals Northampton Town!

The Posh board preferred a positive response announcing plans for a 4,000 seat grandstand which would help boost London Road capacity to 25,000. A profit of £1,489 was reported to the annual meeting in July 1948 when an unusual recommendation from the directors that a five per-cent dividend should be paid to shareholders was rapidly rejected! Elected to the board at this meeting were Cyril Palmer and Vic Grange who continued to serve as directors right through into the Football League era.

The new manager was busy during the summer bringing in a string of players including Exeter City's Irish international Jim Fallon and former Birmingham City and Walsall winger Bill Guest. Also arriving as player-groundsman was Ben Poole who had seen action for Southport, York City and Bedford Town and was a former golf professional at Preston. Ben worked wonders with the London Road pitch and the Supporters' Club soon recognised his efforts by presenting the club with a new motor lawn mower.

Early in the season there was a testimonial game against Wisbech Town for long serving players, even dependable defender Fred Warnes and free scoring Ernie Brooksbank. It ended in a 5-5 draw and everyone went home happy - including the beneficiaries who each received £118, plus a further gift of £50 apiece from the Supporters' Club.

Posh showed some foresight towards the end of 1948 when announcing plans to adopt the Peterborough North Ward Youth Club soccer team as its nursery side but their initiative came to nothing as, following opposition from the local Youth Sports Association, the idea had to be dropped.

Despite boosting the attack with the signing of centre forward Joe Sanderson from St.Ives, Posh were inconsistent in league games with impressive wins over Doncaster Rovers Reserves, Hull City Reserves and Scarborough contrasting with a humiliating 10-0 home defeat by Bradford Park Avenue Reserves. The FA Cup brought some relief and Posh reached the first round after overcoming qualifying round opposition from Symingtons, Wellingborough, Kettering Town and Ransome & Marles.

Posh then received a first round home draw with Torquay United and manager Blood caused a minor sensation by dropping skipper Tommy Rickards before a game in which Posh lost by the only goal in front of 8,769, although it did not quite equal the new London Road attendance record turn-out of 9,370 for the earlier meeting with Kettering Town.

January 1949 brought news of an ambitious ground improvement scheme including removal of the existing wooden stand to the Glebe Road side of the ground and its replacement by a new 340 foot long grandstand and with the pitch moved some 30 yards to the north. Cost was estimated at £40,000 but the County Planning Committee deferred a decision pending consultations with the Ministry of Transport.

Posh dressing room scene from 1949 with
manager Jack Blood talking to his players.

A leg injury forced manager Blood to hang up his boots as a player and then came a boardroom bombshell with the directors announcing that running costs were in excess of revenue with a result that the current account was almost exhausted and financial reserves were being spent.

Team costs were put at between £150 and £160 a week and it was said that Posh needed revenue of at least £400 from every home game. Nevertheless, the board said that for the 1949-50 season it hoped to be able to offer club houses in an effort to bring players of a higher standard to London Road. Posh announced much reduced profits of £476 at its annual meeting, a drop of more than £1,000 on the previous year. In contrast the Supporters' Club were going great guns and their finances had grown by over £1,000 to £2,535.

The season ended with Posh in a disappointing 16th place in the Midland League and Blood again looked to former Football League players to boost the London Road ranks ahead of the 1949-50 campaign bringing in former Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper George Moulson from Lincoln City, Alex Wands, previously with Crewe Alexandra and Doncaster Rovers, and forward Freddy Martin from Nottingham Forest.

Martin scored the opening goal of the new season and it was the first of many from the tricky little inside forward during a highly successful Posh career stretching well into the 1950s. League form was again erratic with good home results offset by poor away displays and Posh also made a third qualifying round FA Cup exit, beaten 1-0 by Corby Town at their old Occupation Road ground.

Posh bowed out of the 1940s in 10th spot in the Midland League and the new decade opened with a decision to seek Football League membership - and that's another story!