Harry Gregg
| Harry Gregg | ||
|
||
| Personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| birthday | October 25, 1932 | |
| place of birth | Magherafelt , Northern Ireland | |
| date of death | February 16, 2020 | |
| Place of death | Coleraine , Northern Ireland | |
| size | 188 cm | |
| position | goalkeeper | |
| Juniors | ||
| Years | station | |
| Windsor Park Swifts | ||
| Coleraine FC | ||
| Men's | ||
| Years | station | Games (goals) 1 |
| 1951-1952 | Coleraine FC | |
| 1952-1957 | Doncaster Rovers | 94 (0) |
| 1957-1966 | Manchester United | 210 (0) |
| 1966-1967 | Stoke City | 2 (0) |
| National team | ||
| Years | selection | Games (goals) |
| 1947 | Northern Ireland pupil | 4 (0) |
| 1952 | Northern Ireland amateurs | 1 (0) |
| 1954-1963 | Northern Ireland | 25 (0) |
| Stations as a trainer | ||
| Years | station | |
| 1968-1972 | Shrewsbury Town | |
| 1972-1975 | Swansea City | |
| 1975-1988 | Crewe Alexandra | |
| 1986-1987 | Carlisle United | |
| 1 Only league games are given. | ||
Harry Gregg OBE (born October 25, 1932 in Magherafelt , County Derry , † February 16, 2020 in Coleraine , County Derry) was a Northern Irish football player and coach .
Career as a player
Gregg's club career
The goalkeeper began playing football as a youth with the Rangers and Swifts in Linfield, Belfast , before joining Coleraine FC . After moving to the Doncaster Rovers at the end of 1952, he was able to show his qualities at a higher level, namely in the second English division . In service of the "Rovers" he made his debut in 1954 in the Northern Irish national team . Gregg's strengths were excellent control of the area and his responsiveness on the line.
In late 1957, Manchester United signed him for £ 23,500 , making him the most expensive goalkeeper of his time. During this phase his great successes fell, but also one of the blackest hours in football ever: less than three months after his move, he survived a plane crash in Munich , in which 23 of the 44 inmates were killed, including eight teammates from Manchester United. Gregg rescued a number of players - including Bobby Charlton , Jackie Blanchflower and Dennis Viollet - and other passengers from the plane.
With United, whose trademark was a yellow sweater ("The man in the yellow sweater"), he won the English runner-up in 1959 and was in the 1958 FA Cup final . He was unable to contribute to the 1963 cup win because of a serious shoulder injury, and Manchester's league title from 1965 was not counted for him in England because - again due to an injury - he did not make enough appearances this season and for this reason withheld the official championship medal stayed.
From December 1966 to 1968 he was still guarding the gate at Stoke City , with whom he rose to the top division in 1967 .
Harry Gregg was awarded the Order of MBE in 1995 and the OBE in 2019 for his services .
In 2004, he and Albert Scanlon reported on a radio show on BBC4 that they and other Manchester United players took amphetamines regularly during the 1950s .
The national player
Between 1954 and 1964 Harry Gregg played 25 internationals for Northern Ireland ; The personal highlight was the soccer world championship in 1958 , where in the preliminary round his parades and reflexes not only drove the German strikers to despair at 2-2. Unlike England and Scotland , the Northern Irish were also in the quarter-finals of the tournament, where Gregg could not prevent his eleven from being eliminated against France . For his achievements, he was then voted the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Career as a coach
Between 1968 and 1987 Gregg coached numerous, mostly lower-class clubs. From 1978 to 1981 he was also a member of the coaching staff of “his” club Manchester United. Specifically, he worked at Shrewsbury Town (1968–1972, 3rd division), Swansea City (1972–1975, 3rd and 4th division), Crewe Alexandra (1975–1978, 4th division), briefly in Saudi Arabia and after three years with Manchester United in 1982 again with Swansea, Swindon Town (1984/85) and Carlisle United (1986/87).
Life after football
Harry Gregg ran a hotel in the northern Irish coastal town of Portstewart and was honorary president of the local football club. In 2002 his autobiography "From Munich to Maxwell" was published.
Gregg died in February 2020 at the age of 87 after several weeks of illness at the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine . His funeral was attended by, among others, Arlene Foster , Alex Ferguson , Bobby Charlton Denis Law , Sammy McIlroy and David Healy .
Achievements and honors
- English cup finalist : 1957/58
- 25 full internationals for Northern Ireland; World Cup participant 1958
- Carrier of the orders "Member" and "Officer" of the British Empire
Web links
- Harry Gregg in the database of weltfussball.de
- Harry Gregg in the database of transfermarkt.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Kistner: shot. The secret doping history of football. Munich 2015 ISBN 978-3-426-42714-9 p. 40
- ↑ Verner Møller, Ivan Waddington, John M. Hoberman: Routledge Handbook of Drugs and Sport 2015 ISBN 978-0415702782
- ^ Harry Gregg: Munich air disaster hero and Northern Ireland goalkeeping great dies. BBC Sport , February 17, 2020, accessed February 17, 2020 .
- ↑ bbc.com: Harry Gregg: Funeral of Man United and Northern Ireland goalkeeper taking place (February 21, 2020) , accessed February 22, 2020
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gregg, Harry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Northern Irish football goalkeeper and coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 25, 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Magherafelt |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 16, 2020 |
| Place of death | Coleraine |