During the 1932 close season, in order to balance the books several players left the club including Bill Fraser, Bert Jepson and Haddleton (who all joined Fulham), Johnny McIlwaine (who joined Llanelli after failure to agree terms) and Willie Haines, who retired to join Weymouth. Despite the large number of departures the team had a more settled look about it and during the 1932–33 season Kay had a squad of 15 players of whom twelve were the mainstay of the side. Led by Ted Drake, the team improved slightly on the previous season, winning a club record 15 out of 21 home matches, but only registering three away victories. Once again the directors needed to raise cash and in February 1933 they sold Arnold and Mike Keeping to Fulham for a combined fee of £5,000. Jimmy McIntyre, the former Saints manager now in charge at Fulham boasted that this was "the best deal I ever brought off". The fans were now disillusioned with the club and attendances dropped to record lows, with only 2,949 turning out for the match against Bradford City on 25 February, well below the break-even target of 14,000. Despite the financial difficulties faced by the club, the team were not badly affected and ended the season in mid-table.