Football - Harry Curtis & Brentofrd Squad at Victoria in 1936 - repro postcard

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Harry Curtis and his Brentford squad prepare to board a train at Victoria for Portugal, 1936
• Publisher: Brentford FC?
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: Earlier image on more modern card c.1990s

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK and all other locations - PayPal or other methods listed above.

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. 

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Henry Charles Curtis (22 January 1890 – 30 January 1966) was an English footballer, referee and manager, best-remembered for his 23 years as manager of Brentford. He is Brentford's longest-serving and most successful manager to date. In a 2013 Football League 125th anniversary poll, Curtis was voted Brentford's greatest-ever manager.[2] He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.

Brentford

Early years and rise to the First Division (1926–1935)

After a chance meeting with Brentford director and former referee Frank Barton,[4] Curtis was appointed manager of the Third Division South club in April 1926 and signed a 12-month contract.[1][7][8] He brought Gillingham trainer Bob Kane with him to Griffin Park.[9] Curtis officially took up the role in May 1926 and his debut season saw a run to the fifth round of the FA Cup, which yielded enough money to build a grandstand on the Braemar Road side of Griffin Park.[4] In the 1929–30 season, Curtis' Bees team won all 21 home league games, an outright English league record.[7] Curtis also named the same team for 21 consecutive games between November 1929 and March 1930.[4]

The most successful era in the club's history began in 1932–33 season, largely in part due to the signings of Jack Holliday, Ernest Muttitt, Billy Scott and Bert Watson from First Division club Middlesbrough.[10] Brentford won the 1932–33 Third Division South title, which was the first silverware of Curtis' managerial career.[9] Curtis' Brentford finished fourth in the club's first season in the Second Division, before winning a second promotion in three seasons with the 1934–35 Second Division title, which secured top-flight football for the first time in the club's history.[9] The club won a second piece of silverware during the 1934–35 season – the London Challenge Cup.[11]

First Division heyday and decline (1935–1949)

Curtis and recently appointed assistant manager Jimmy Bain guided Brentford to fifth and two successive sixth-place finishes in the club's first three seasons in the First Division.[9] Crowds at Griffin Park averaged 25,000 and in the 1937–38 season and Brentford led the First Division table for three months and reached the sixth round of the FA Cup for the first time.[4][7] Brentford's sustained period of success was consolidated by Curtis' man-management abilities and his astuteness in the transfer market,[12] bringing in Scottish internationals Dave McCulloch, Bobby Reid and Duncan McKenzie, Welsh internationals Idris Hopkins and Les Boulter, with Billy Scott and Les Smith going on to represent England.[4]

The outbreak of the Second World War and the suspension of professional football in 1939 brought Brentford's golden era to a halt, but Curtis still won further silverware during the war, winning the 1941–42 London War Cup,[11] which is the club's only Wembley success to date.[7] Football League competition resumed in 1946 and with an ageing squad,[13] Curtis' Brentford were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1946–47 season.[1] Curtis eventually stood down from the manager's role in February 1949.[1] For his long service, Curtis was rewarded with a testimonial in May 1949, played between Brentford and a team of former players.[14] To date, Curtis is Brentford's longest-serving and most successful manager and a lounge at Griffin Park has been named in his honour.[15] The boardroom at the club's upcoming Brentford Community Stadium will also be named for him.[16] In 2013, Curtis was voted Brentford's greatest-ever manager in a Football League 125th anniversary poll and he was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.[2][17]