Robert Harrop (25 August 1936 – 8 November 2007) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and played in the Football League for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

. Harrop joined Manchester United as a youth team player in 1953 and was an

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

winner in 1954 and later graduated to the reserve side after turning professional. His first team debut came on 5 March 1958, a month after the

Munich air disaster The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. The aircraft was carrying the Manchester United F.C., Manche ...

– where eight players were killed and two never played again due to injury, while several other players were still recovering from their injuries. His debut was against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

fifth round replay. He made a further five appearances that season, and five more in 1958–59, but never became a regular player and was sold to Tranmere Rovers for £4,000 in 1961. He spent two seasons at

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Prenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers F.C., Tranmere Rovers Football Club since opening in 1912, and formerly the home ground ...

before quitting league football at the age of 27, when he signed for non league

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. He played 564 games for the

Hartsdown Park Hartsdown Park is a football (soccer), football stadium located in Margate, Kent, England. It has been the home of Margate F.C. (known as Thanet United F.C. between 1981 and 1989) since 1929, apart from between 2002 and 2005, when the club was ...

club in two spells until 1978. In between these he clocked over a century appearances at both Ashford Town (Kent) and Canterbury City, where he became player-manager for the final two seasons of his stay. Then at the age of 42 he signed for neighbouring

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

. 52 appearances came over the next two seasons and he carried on playing until he was nearly 50, finally hanging up his boots at the end of the 1984–85 season with Dover Athletic, where he was also in charge of the reserve team. He remained in football as a non-league referee, a role he held until just before his death in November 2007 at the age of 71.

External links

MUFCInfo.com profileMargate FC profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrop, Bobby 1936 births 2007 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Manchester Manchester United F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Margate F.C. players Canterbury City F.C. players Canterbury City F.C. managers Ramsgate F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Men's association football central defenders English Football League players English football managers 20th-century English sportsmen