Clubs: Kingstonian, Crystal Palace

The diminutive, bow-legged, Palace forward of the 1920s and early 1930s was one of those performers whom fans immediately took to their heart. A man of character, he was always able to give a 100% effort for the club as a winger (in a footballing age when wingers were as plentiful as midfield players are today). He was endowed with skills that drew admiration from press, colleagues, supporters and opponents alike throughout his long career.

Albert signed for Palace after manager Edmund Goodman had seen him play for amateur side Kingstonian in a Surrey Charity Shield final in the summer of 1921. Albert had learnt his football in the army and was a menacing, attacking centre forward. After returning from India he joined Kingstonian, as well as playing for Surrey and making three appearances in the Athenian League. He appeared in eight of the last nine Palace fixtures of 1921/22 and scored two goals in the last eight minutes of his debut to help Palace defeat Bury 4-1 at the Nest; but all those games saw him feature in the inside or centre forward positions.

Manager Goodman quickly spotted that Harry's small stature (he was only 5ft 6) was something of a handicap when playing down the middle in Second Division football and moved him into the outside right spot. At first Bert was a little disappointed about the change of position, but he soon settled down and made his first appearance for Palace at outside right on September 30th 1922 at Leicester. He scored a couple of goals from the wing that season while making a total of 24 appearances.

His great merit was that, once he had been given the ball, he was a speedy and direct raider. He had a hard shot from either foot and his ball control was excellent. By the next season, the outside right position was Harry's and he held onto it for another decade!

The player with whom Albert Harry is often mentioned is Peter Simpson, the prolific goalscorer of the 1930s. Those who were lucky enough to see those two in the team for four and a half seasons are certainly among the most privileged Palace supporters. They blended together from the start and there can be no doubt that Harry's forceful play on the right wing was one of the reasons Simpson was able to crack so many goals. Bert himself scored 53 League goals for Palace and two in the FA Cup: how many he laid on for other forwards we can only guess. He put in 410 League appearances for Palace and that figure stood as a record for over 30 years until it was taken over by Terry Long in the late 1960s.

Statistics

Source: Crystal Palace FC, Player by Player Since 1960, Rev. Nigel Sands, (1996, Sporting and Leisure Press)