Deacon Harry Image 2 Swansea Town 1924

Description

Inside right Harry Deacon was born in the Darnall district of Sheffield, and played football for Hallam in 1918 before joining Sheffield Wednesday as an amateur, spending 1919-20 with them without making their first eleven. He moved on to Birmingham in 1920, and made his Football League debut in the First Division on 4th February 1922, deputising for Johnny Crosbie in a 2-0 home defeat t0 Liverpool. After two games in two seasons, unable to dislodge Crosbie from the inside right position, Deacon moved on to Swansea Townw here he found considerably more success.

In nine seasons with the club, he scored 94 goals in 343 appearances, and played a major role in their promotion to the Second Division as Third Division (South) Champions in the 1924-25 season, scoring 15 goals including a hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Brentford in November 1924, and he also helped them to reach the Final of the Welsh Cup and the semi final of the FA Cup the following season, where they lost to eventual winners Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane. He was an ever present in 1926-27 having missed only a single game in 1922-23. In recognition of his service to the club across nine seasons, Swansea awarded him a testimonial match which was attended by 9,000 spectators.

Deacon went on to spend three seasons with Crewe Alexandra from 1931 where he scored 51 goals in 126 appearances, missing only 8 games in his three seasons at Gresty Road. He was Crewe’s joint top goalscorer with Bert Swindells in 1931-32 with his career best season total of 23 strikes, which included 4 goals in an 8-1 drubbing of York City in February 1932. He then began the 1934-35 season at Southport, scoring twice in 10 appearances before joining Accrington Stanley in December 1934, where he scored 11 goals in 25 games. He ended his professional career with a short spell at Rotherham United in 1935-36, making his last appearance of six for The Millers just before Christmas 1935.