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Carl Harris was yet another young Welsh star unearthed by Jack
Pickard - the Welsh scout whose other great discoveries included
John Charles, Gary Sprake and Terry Yorath. Don Revie signed him up
after he was rejected by Burnley, and Harris repaid Revie's
confidence in him when he scored on his debut at the age of 18. He
was a frequent occupant of the bench, but maintained a decent
scoring record, which he carried on when he became more of a
regular in the side in 1978-79. He won all of his Welsh caps while
at Leeds, and was also Leeds' leading scoring in 1980-81, but when
Leeds were relegated he moved on to Charlton where injuries started
to dog his career. He played on and off throughout the 1980s before
finishing his career at Exeter City.
Cheers to Rochdale's programme editor Mark Wilbraham for one of
the photos.
John F. Tweddle says: Had a Brilliant game against Middlesbrough
at Ayresome Park in October 1977. He ran the Middlesbrough defence
ragged, and although Leeds lost the game 2-1, he scored a
tremendous individual goal, which has stayed in my memory forever.
What a pity this great ball playing artist never reached his truly
great potential.
Stephen Greenslade says: Carl is my cousin and as such I
idolised him as a small boy. He was once subject of 700,000 bid
from Arsenal, in the days when 1 million pound transfers were still
considered somewhat obscene. When, being out of contract, he
finally moved to Charlton when I was aged 12, I was devastated.
However, the silver lining was that at the time he had a straight
choice between a transfer to The Valley and a move to Old Trafford,
he chose Charlton, you can't ask for more from a Leeds player than
that!
Jeff Pearse says: I saw Carl play when he joined Rochdale. Even
at that stage in his career his skills were superb and he thrilled
the crowd with his runs up the wing. I remember one game in
particular against Cardiff City when he dribbled the ball from well
inside his own half, beating most of the team before putting the
ball into the Cardiff net. As you might expect he was the favourite
player of my son, who was then 10 years old.
daz says: where can i contact carl for an autograph?
Simon Parfitt says: I used to go and watch leeds as often as
possible. Carl was my favorite player. I believe he was the Ryan
Giggs of his era. He had balance, ball control, speed, agility and
most of all pride and passion. I believe carl could have got more
out of fottball at the end of his career. I suppose he's one of the
minority that just stay away from the game all together. Good Luck
in whatever you doing now Carl
Dean says: Carl has got a business down here in Neath called
Neath Port Talbot removals. Helped me move house last year. Worked
his socks off and as cheap as chips too! Doesn't have much interest
in the game now and didn't want to talk too much about football
when he had a break. I was hoping for a few interesting
anecdotes.
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