Carl Stephen Harris (born 3 November 1956 in

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

former international

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 ...

. As a winger, Harris was noted for his express pace. Former

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

captain

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's ...

is on record as saying Harris was the most difficult opponent he ever faced.

Playing career

Leeds United

He was signed professionally for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in 1973 by

Don Revie Donald George Revie (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an English footballer and manager. He is best known for managing Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, winning the Football League First Division twice and the FA Cup once, before being the Eng ...

. Harris played under

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional association football, football player and manager. He played the whole of his Football League career at Blackpool F.C., Blackpool, usually at right b ...

and

Jock Stein John Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He was the first manager of a club from a Northern European country to win the European Champio ...

at Leeds and alongside

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional Association football, footballer who played for Leeds United F.C., Leeds United, Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, and the Scotland national football team, Scot ...

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...

Peter Lorimer Peter Patrick Lorimer (14 December 1946 – 20 March 2021) was a Scottish professional footballer who mainly played for Leeds United and Scotland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. An attacking midfielder and the club's youngest-ever player ...

, Norman Hunter, Allan Clarke,

Paul Madeley Paul Edward Madeley (20 September 1944 – 23 July 2018) was an English footballer, who played for Leeds United and the England national team. During his career with Leeds, Madeley played in a variety of different playing positions which led to ...

Paul Reaney Paul Reaney (born 22 October 1944) is an English former international footballer. He played primarily as a right-sided full-back. He made 745 first-team appearances at Leeds United from 1962 to 1978, winning seven major trophies under Don Re ...

and Eddie Gray. A week after signing for Leeds, a young homesick Harris had returned to South Wales. However, Leeds thought he was worth pursuing and sent former player

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh association football, footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United F.C., Leeds United and Juventus FC, Ju ...

to persuade him to return. On 6 November 1974, Harris made his first team debut for Leeds, three days after his 18th birthday, in a European Cup second round tie at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

v Hungarian champions Ujpest Dosza, coming on as a second-half substitute for Peter Lorimer in a 3–0 win. Five months later on 19 April 1975 Harris made his League debut, again coming on as a substitute, this time for Johnny Giles in a Division One match against Ipswich Town at Elland Road. Leeds went on to win that game 2–1, with Harris netting the winner. Harris reminisced,

It was brilliant to be honest. Trevor Cherry had equalised and I was on hand to win us the game. The Ipswich goalkeeper, Laurie Sivell, pushed Billy Bremner's shot away to his right and it looked like the ball was going out but I managed to get a left foot shot in which Sivell could only parry into his goal. It was right in front of the Kop and a great moment.

Harris went on to play 156 (30 of which were as a sub) league games for Leeds, scoring 26 league goals, including ending the 1980–81 season as the club's top scorer with 10 goals. Counting cup matches Harris played a total of 176 games (40 as sub) for the club, scoring 29 goals. Following one game against Arsenal at Highbury, where Harris tormented the home side all afternoon, he was reportedly subject of £700,000 bid from the Gunners, in a time when 1 million pound transfers were still unusual. Harris had been set to return to Leeds in 1985. Having played a few games for the Central League side to prove his fitness he was set to sign, but Leeds manager Eddie Gray was sacked and the deal fell through.

Later career

Out of contract, he finally left

in 1982 in a £100,000 move to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. Following his move to London, Harris struggled with injuries but went on to play 76 times (7 goals) for Charlton, 38 games (4 goals) for Bury, 25 games (3 goals) for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

and 16 games (1 goal) for

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. In between leaving Bury and signing for Rochdale, Harris also turned out briefly for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...

, a club then managed by former Leeds teammate

Gordon McQueen Gordon McQueen (26 June 1952 – 15 June 2023) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a centre-back for St Mirren, Leeds United and Manchester United, in addition to the Scotland national team. McQueen started his footballing ca ...

. Following his English League career Harris finished his playing days back in Neath as player-manager of local

League of Wales League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

side Briton Ferry Athletic before spending four years in the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

Wales

Harris won 24 full international caps and 1 under-23 cap (v Scotland) for Wales, all gained while at

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. Harris scored his only international goal in a 1–0 win against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in a

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

qualifying match. He made his full international debut in March 1976 against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, some eleven months after his club debut for Leeds. Harris picked up the last of his 24 caps in another game against England, at

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

in April 1982.

References

External links

*
Welsh Premier profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Carl 1956 births Living people Footballers from Neath Men's association football wingers Welsh men's footballers Wales men's under-23 international footballers Wales men's international footballers English Football League players Scottish Football League players Leeds United F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Bury F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Rochdale A.F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Carmarthen Town A.F.C. players Maesteg Park A.F.C. players Afan Lido F.C. players Ton Pentre F.C. players Cymru Premier players