Bill Harris (footballer)

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Personal information
Bill Harris
Full name	William Charles Harris
Date of birth	31 October 1928(1928-10-31)
Place of birth	Swansea, Wales
Date of death	1989
Playing position	Wing half
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1949–1950 1950–1954 1954–1965 1965–1966	Swansea City Llanelli Hull City Middlesbrough Bradford City	000 0(0) 131 0(?) 378 (72) 009 0(1)
National team
	Wales
Teams managed
1965–1966	Bradford City Stockton
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

William "Bill" Charles Harris (31 October 1928 – 1989) was a Welsh footballer, who played for his national side and Middlesbrough and later became a manager.

[edit] Career

Bill Harris started his footballing career with local club Swansea City but failed to graduate beyond the third team and so moved to Llanelli in 1949. After just six months he signed for Hull City for £2,000.^[1] He played 131 games for Hull before a move to Middlesbrough in March 1954 for £15,000.^[1] Harris, a wing half, played 378 games, scoring 72 goals for Middlesbrough and was capped for Wales. He won his first cap against Austria in May 1955 but had to wait three years for his second cap.

In March 1965 he joined Bradford City as their third player-manager following the departure of Bob Brocklebank. He took charge at a struggling club, during its darkest days, and in his first season, the club had finished 19th in Division Four. The following season the club's problems continued and Harris resigned a year after he took over with the club heading towards re-election.

His stay also signalled the end of his playing career, when he was injured during a 7-1 defeat to Crewe Alexandra and was advised to stop playing.^[1]

In November 1967 he returned to Teesside as manager-coach of non-league Stockton, before he retired in May 1969. He later worked for an insurance firm in Middlesbrough.^[1]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988. Breedon Books Sport, pp74-75, p106. ISBN 0907969380.

[edit] External links

Bill Harris management career stats at Soccerbase

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Bradford City A.F.C. – Managers

Campbell (1903–05) • O'Rourke (1905–21) • Menzies (1921–26) • Veitch (1926–28) • Foster (1928) • O'Rourke (1928–30) • Peart (1930–35) • Ray (1935–37) • Westgarth (1938–43) • Sharp (1943–46) • Barker (1946–47) • Milburn (1947–48) • Steele (1948–52) • A Harris (52) • Powell (1952–55) • Jackson (1955–61) • Brocklebank (1961–64) • B Harris (1965–66) • Watson (1966–67) • Hair (1967–68) • McAnearney & Hallett (1968) • Wheeler (1968–71) • Wilson (1971) • Edwards (1971–75) • Kennedy (1975–78) • Napier (1978) • Mulhall (1978–81) • McFarland (1981–82) • Cherry (1982–87) • Dolan (1987–89) • Yorath (1989–90) • Docherty (1990–91) • Stapleton (1991–94) • Lawrence (1994–95) • Kamara (1995–98) • Jewell (1998–2000) • Hutchings (2000) • McCall (2000) • Jefferies (2000–01) • Smith (2001) • Law (2002–03) • Four senior players (2003) • Robson (2003–04) • Todd (2004–07) • Wetherall (2007) • McCall (2007–)