Harry Potts
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Harold Potts | ||
| Date of birth | 22 October 1920 | ||
| Place of birth | Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, England | ||
| Date of death | 16 January 1996 (aged 75) | ||
| Place of death | Burnley, Lancashire, England | ||
| Playing position | Inside forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1937–1946 | Burnley | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1950 | Burnley | 165 | (47) |
| 1950–1956 | Everton | 59 | (15) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1957–1958 | Shrewsbury Town | ||
| 1958–1970 | Burnley | ||
| 1972–1976 | Blackpool | ||
| 1977–1979 | Burnley | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Harold "Harry" Potts (22 October 1920 – 16 January 1996) was an English football player and manager.
Born in Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, as was another well-known name in football, Bob Paisley. The duo spent much of their childhood playing various sports, but it was football that Potts loved most. A promising young footballer as well as a good scholar, he was forced to choose between sport and studies, and he chose football as his career.
Potts joined Burnley, who had one of the first youth-development systems in football; however, his own development was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, which came before he could make his début for the club. He served for the [RAF] mainly in India as a PT instructor. Although playing for the club a few times in wartime fixtures, his first league action for Burnley came after its conclusion. He took time to return to the form that saw him regarded as a promising youngster, but he eventually became a success as a Burnley player.
He made his Burnley first-team début on 31 August 1946, in a position then referred to as "inside-left", which would now be considered as one of the striker positions. He wore the number 10 shirt associated with that position, and played in all but two of Burnley's 42 games in Division Two that season, becoming the club's leading goalscorer with fifteen goals. The Clarets finished second in the table and were promoted. They also reached the FA Cup Final at Wembley. Potts played all nine of Burnley's cup games, including the final, which Charlton Athletic won 1–0.
In the following season, the challenge of top-flight football did not seem to slow his progression. Burnley finished third, and Potts scored 14 goals in the 38-game season. Burnley settled into a mid-table position over the next few years, and Potts added to his tally of goals. He eventually got 47 from 165 matches, before moving to Everton in October 1950. His next Burnley match would have been a trip to his native Sunderland. In his stead, future Burnley star Jimmy McIlroy would make his début at inside-left.
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