Gordon Harris (soccer player)

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Gordon Harris
Personnel
birthday June 2, 1940
place of birth Worksop ,  England
date of death February 10, 2014
Place of death Langold ,  England
position Winger (left), midfield
Juniors
Years station
Firbeck Colliery
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1958-1967 Burnley FC 258 (69)
1967-1971 Sunderland AFC 125 (16)
1971-1975 South Shields FC
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1961-1963 England U-23 2 0(1)
1966 England 1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Gordon Harris (born June 2, 1940 in Worksop , † February 10, 2014 in Langold ) was an English football player . As a midfielder , who could be used in the center and on the left flank, he was at the beginning of the 1960s at Burnley FC only a substitute player in the championship team from 1960 , but then a good seven years a fixture in the "Weinroten".

Athletic career

After graduating from school, Harris worked as a miner in his native Nottinghamshire , before his footballing talent was noticed at the age of 17 in the mining team Firbeck Colliery . In January 1958 he signed a contract with the first division club Burnley FC , which was just becoming one of the most successful English teams of the time. On his debut almost a year later against Leeds United , he immediately scored a goal to win 3-1, but both this season and the championship season 1959/60 he only got a sporadic turn - in the title year he played two league games, which was not enough to receive an official medal. In early 1961 the regular left winger Brian Pilkington was sold to the Bolton Wanderers and Harris then filled the gap offered to him.

In contrast to many other wingers, who appeared rather lightweight, Harris was significantly more muscular and equipped with a higher physical presence (his nickname was "Bomber Harris", based on the Commander in Chief of the British Air Force in World War II). Nevertheless, he was predestined for the outside track, as he also brought the necessary speed with it; there was also a hard left-footed shot and a good passing game. In 1962 he reached the final in the FA Cup with Burnley , but it was lost 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur . He was a constant at Burnley's creative center through the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1960s he harmonized with John Connelly , Jimmy McIlroy , Ray Pointer and Jimmy Robson as well as later with the younger generation, which consisted of actors such as Willie Morgan , Andy Lochhead , Willie Irvine and Ralph Coates .

In 1963 Harris moved to the middle, where he formed the midfield center with the equally strong Brian O'Neil . In January 1966, Harris also played his first and only A international match for England as a substitute for Bobby Charlton against Poland (1: 1) and he was also in the provisional 40-man squad for the upcoming World Cup in his own country then not taken into account in the selection of the 22 final candidates. Burnley FC promoted him to team captain after a respectable success in the 1966/67 season with the move to the quarter-finals in the trade fair cup in the summer of 1967, but the club suspended him for disciplinary reasons before Christmas of the same year. Harris was known for outbursts of temper and in addition to quarrels with opponents and teammates, he often had problems subordinating himself to authorities. It was a bitter farewell for the 27-year-old former high performer and in January 1968 he was “deported” to first division rivals AFC Sunderland for £ 70,000 .

Expectations were high straight away in Sunderland as Harris was earmarked for the playmaker role. The previously signed Jim Baxter had disappointed after his move from the Glasgow Rangers and Harris invested a lot in correcting this problem. The problem, however, was that he had meanwhile lost significantly in speed and since the team of coach Alan Brown was overall poor, they rose in the 1969/70 season as second-bottom in the second division. Early in the 1971/72 season he even lost his regular seat in Sunderland and so he moved to the Northern Premier League for South Shields FC , where he let his active career end until 1975. He then returned to his native Nottinghamshire to work as a driver for the coal works that he had left a good two decades earlier. Harris died in February 2014 at the age of 73 from complications from cancer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - U-23 International Results - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ↑ Hayes, Dean P .: England! England! The Complete Who's Who of Players since 1946 . Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3234-1 , pp. 185 .
  3. ↑ "Gordon Harris" (Clarets Mad)
personal data
SURNAME Harris, Gordon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Worksop , England
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 2014
Place of death Langold , England