Eric George Harrison (5 February 1938 – 13 February 2019) was an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. He played in midfield for several teams, including notable spells at

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

(his local club) and Barrow. Harrison became a football coach and worked at Everton before he was brought to

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 ...

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

in 1981 to manage the youth team. Under

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

, Harrison developed "one of the best crops of young players in the English game" – the so-called

Fergie's Fledglings Fergie's Fledglings were a group of football players recruited by Manchester United under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson (often nicknamed "Fergie") and trained by assistant coaches Brian Kidd and Eric Harrison, before eventually progress ...

– which included

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football pundit, coach and former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Scholes spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom h ...

and

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit, former coach and player, and co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. As a player, Neville was a right-back and spent his entire career with Manches ...

Playing career

Harrison began his football career as a player with his local club,

, and made 199 league appearances between 1957 and 1964. After seven years with Halifax, he joined Hartlepools United, where he played until the 1965-66 season before joining Barrow in 1966. At Barrow, he was noted as a strong midfield player who played a key role in securing the club's promotion to the Third Division in 1967. He was at

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

from 1969 to 1971 before returning to Barrow for the 1971–72 season. In all, he made 162 league appearances for Barrow and a further 25 in other competitions, scoring three goals. He left Barrow for

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

in 1972.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing Harrison entered coaching. In June 1981, he was hired from Everton by new Manchester United manager

, with whom Harrison had played for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

football team, Harrison took the post of youth team manager. It was his responsibility to help guide the club's young players and mould them into future first-teamers. When Atkinson was sacked in 1986, his replacement,

, decided to keep Harrison on as youth coach. Dissatisfied with the number of players coming through the United youth system, Ferguson called a meeting with Harrison to discuss potential improvements. Harrison pointed out that he had already made

Norman Whiteside Norman Whiteside (born 7 May 1965) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and striker. Whiteside began his career at Manchester United, signing professional forms in 1982 at the age of 17 and quickly be ...

and a couple of others into first team players, but Ferguson argued that this was still not enough. Harrison retorted "Right, we'll do a deal. You get me better-quality players, and I'll get you more youngsters in the first team." Ferguson agreed and set about increasing the club's scouting network two-or-threefold. Harrison's set-up subsequently produced a crop of first team players that became known as "

" or "the class of '92". These included

Nicky Butt Nicholas Butt (born 21 January 1975) is an English football coach and former player who was most recently the head of first-team development at Manchester United. He is also a co-owner of Salford City. Butt played professional football as a midf ...

and

Robbie Savage Robert William Savage (born 18 October 1974) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder, now a association football, football pundit and head coach at National League North club Macclesfield F.C., ...

. Harrison managed the Manchester United youth team that included many of these players and won the 1992

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 ...

. The group has been described as "one of the best crops of young players in the English game". In 1993, Harrison introduced

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English association football, football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers. He is also the co-owner of Salford City F.C., Salford ...

and

Keith Gillespie Keith Robert Gillespie ( ; born 18 February 1975) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who plays as a winger for FC Mindwell in the Mid-Ulster Football League. He began his career at Manchester United after winning the FA Yo ...

to first team football. In 1995, a Harrison-coached team, captained by Phil Neville, won the FA Youth Cup again. Other players brought through the Manchester United youth team by Harrison include

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

Clayton Blackmore Clayton Graham Blackmore (born 23 September 1964) is a Welsh former Wales national football team, international association football, footballer. He was a combative player known for his attacking free kicks and a utility player who excelled in D ...

and

Graeme Hogg Graeme James Hogg (born 17 June 1964) is a Scottish former footballer. Career He began his career with Manchester United in 1984 and went on to play 83 league games for the club before joining Portsmouth in 1988. During his time at Old Trafford, ...

. In 1998, Harrison retired as youth team manager but continued as coaching co-ordinator, working with groups from the under-nines to the under-16s, until he left Manchester United around 2008. From 2000 to 2004, Harrison was assistant manager of the

Wales national football team The Wales national football team () represents Wales in international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales. They have been a member of FIFA since ...

under Mark Hughes.

Later life

In 2014, Harrison was diagnosed with mixed

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

, a condition that his own father had also lived with in his later years, and went to live in a nursing home. Harrison was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for his services to football in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

. As he was unable to travel to London, he received his honour at Halifax Town's ground,

The Shay The Shay is a multi-purpose sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is home to the FC Halifax Town association football club and the Halifax Panthers rugby league team. The stadium is owned by the Calderdale Metropolitan Bo ...

Death

Harrison died on 13 February 2019 at the age of 81. He was surrounded by his wife of 56 years, Shirley and two daughters.

References

External links

Profile
at redStat {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Eric 1938 births 2019 deaths People from Mytholmroyd Sportspeople from Calderdale Footballers from West Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Halifax Town A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Southport F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Members of the Order of the British Empire Everton F.C. non-playing staff English football coaches 20th-century English sportsmen