Following the 1905-6 season’s second-place, Leyton were promoted to Division One of the Southern League, the highest the club would ever play in its 150+ year history. In what was essentially considered to be the unofficial third division of the Football League; seven of the 20 clubs now play in the Premier League, with the majority of the rest either in the Championship or League 1. Only Leyton, now known as Walthamstow, play in non-league football.
Following the 1905-6 season’s second-place, Leyton were promoted to Division One of the Southern League, the highest the club would ever play in its 150+ year history. In what was essentially considered to be the unofficial third division of the Football League; seven of the 20 clubs now play in the Premier League, with the majority of the rest either in the Championship or League 1. Only Leyton, now known as Walthamstow, play in non-league football.
It was to be a season of adjustment and stabilisation. An indifferent start to the season was a sign of things to come, with struggles in front of goal the real problem. In 38 league games, Leyton scored 38 goals. Only Northampton Town, who finished bottom, scored fewer.
Jimmy Turnbull, a summer signing from Preston North End was top scorer with 14 goals, while Frank Kelly helped out with nine.
The highlight of the season though was no doubt Sam Meredith being capped by Wales; playing in a 1-1 draw with England. He was the first player to gain full international honours while playing for the club. He would make eight appearances for his country, but it could have been more. In February 1907 Meredith sacrificed playing for Wales to play for Leyton, who drew 0-0 with West Ham in front of 10,000 people - the club’s highest home attendance of the season. Wales beat Ireland 3-2, with Sam’s more famous brother, Billy, scoring.
After an opening day defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, Leyton went four games unbeaten; the pick of which was no doubt the 3-0 win over Queens Park Rangers in front of 7,000 people at the Leyton enclosure.
But that solid start was something of a flash in the pan. Through October and November, Leyton won just one league game, and went eight games without victory at one point.
On the other hand, February and March were much better, losing just twice in 11 games. Three 0-0 draws in a row in February unfortunately didn’t grab the attention of the East End masses, and as the season went on, attendances began to the decline. The lowest of the season was at the start of April when just 2,000 people came for the visit of Brentford.
The previous season, the club had a chaotic fixture calendar, to say the least. They fielded Southern League seasons of the past 1906-7 teams in the Southern League, United League, London League and South Eastern league, as well as playing mid-season friendlies and benefit matches, and the FA Cup. The majority of players played in all of these competitions and perhaps more. Perhaps preparing themselves for a step up in competition, the Leyton first team only played in the 38 competitive games of the Southern League Division One, with a couple of friendlies thrown in for good measure.
If it was a unremarkable season for Leyton, the April 1907 game with Millwall will go down in their history books at least: George Comrie was given Millwall’s first ever red card, retaliating after a robust challenge from Leyton’s Walter Busby. Reports from the game suggest that it was “six of one and half a dozen of the other” and that Busby was perhaps lucky to stay on the field. In the end, it didn’t really matter, with Millwall (then known as Millwall Athletic and playing in Greenwich), running out 2-0 winners.
Fulham were league champions, and after a fair amount of lobbying, were elected to the Football League at the expensive of Burton. For Leyton, there was clearly work to do. Just two days after the season had finished, a message in the Athletic News called out for “first class players required for all positions”.
