After three successive top-six finishes in the
First Division beginning in
1935–36, Brentford's decline began with the departure of key players during the
1938–39 season, which culminated with a near-relegation. For 1946–47, the first
Football League season since the end of the
Second World War, manager
Harry Curtis was able to call on many of his regular players from the final pre-war seasons, though the elder players, such as
Irish international
full back Bill Gorman,
utility man Buster Brown and former
Wales forward Idris Hopkins, were all at age 35. Long-serving forward and once-capped
England international
Billy Scott had remained with the club and was then aged 38. The team fielded versus
Aston Villa on 1 February 1947 was the oldest in club history, with an average age of over 31.5 years. Curtis supplemented the squad by bringing in
wing half Cyril Toulouse and forwards
John Gillies,
Maurice Roberts and
George Stewart. As in the final pre-war seasons, Curtis would also promote players from the Bees'
reserve ranks, signing amateur
Roddy Munro to a professional contract and handing debuts to
Frank Latimer,
John Moore and
Wally Bragg, with Bragg going on to become the youngest-ever Brentford debutant at that time. Brentford had a good start to the season, winning four of the first five matches and going top on the opening day. The majority of the team's goals were scored by forwards
Gerry McAloon,
Fred Durrant and
George Wilkins, Manager Curtis received
half back George Paterson from Celtic in
part exchange for McAloon and also strengthened the team with full back
Malky Macdonald and forward
Archie Macaulay. By December, Brentford had dropped into the relegation places and a run of 11 losses in 15 matches culminated in the heaviest defeat of the season – 6–1 away to
Sheffield United on
Christmas Day.
Bill Naylor and
Dickie Girling were signed in February to bolster the forward line, but scored just three goals between them before the end of the season. By the time of the final day of the season on 14 June, Brentford had lost 14 of the final 19 matches. ==League table==