 Despite relegation to the Second Division in the 1928–29 season, he led the team to back-to-back Second and First Division championships in 1931 and 1932, the 1933 FA Cup and two successful appearances in the Charity Shield.A fifth league title was secured in 1938–39 while the club was run by committee, while in 1939 Theo Kelly was appointed as the club's first manager after the succession of secretaries and senior coaches who were responsible for team selection.With the pre-War team dispersed, the club struggled to reassert its dominance in the late 1940s and eventually suffered relegation to the Second Division under Cliff Britton in the 1950–51 season.