Hadley Harry Image 1 Southampton 1907

Description

Wing half Harry Hadley was born in Barrow-in-Furness and joined Halesowen in 1896 from Colley Gate United. In February 1897 he joined First Division West Bromwich Albion where he established himself at wing-half, making his Football League debut at Notts County in March 1898. He was part of Albion’s 1901 FA Cup semi final team beaten by eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park. Although they were also relegated in 1901, the Baggies bounced straight back and Hadley won a Second Division Championship medal in 1902 playing 32 League games, and in February 1903 won his only England cap in the 4-0 win against Ireland at Molineux.

In February 1905, after 2 goals in 181 appearances, he left West Brom to join Aston Villa for a fee of £250, but played just 11 times before joining Nottingham Forest in April 1906, playing 7 times for them in the season run in but being unable to prevent their relegation. Although they were promoted as Second Division Champions in 1906-07, Hadley only made 5 appearances in the campaign, scoring once. In March 1907 he moved again, this time to Southern League Southampton, for whom he made 30 appearances. According to Holley & Chalk’s “The Alphabet of the Saints” he was “a methodical yet energetic half-back, dedicated to looking after the forwards by supporting, feeding and directing them into advantageous positions”.

In May 1908 he moved to Croydon Common, scoring once in 31 appearances over the next 2 seasons and helping them to the 1908-09 Southern League Second Division Championship before rejoining Halesowen in February 1910. He finished his playing career with Merthyr Town.

Hadley’s first managerial job was with Merthyr Town where he was appointed in May 1919. He oversaw their promotion to the Football League in 1920 and guided them to 8th place in Division Three (South) in their first season. He left Merthyr in April 1922 to manage Chesterfield, but left in August the same year. In November 1927 he took over at Aberdare Athletic, who had failed to gain re-election to the Football League the previous season. He left in April 1928, returning to Merthyr Town as manager, but left again in November the same year. He began a third spell as Merthyr manager in 1930, leaving in September 1931. His final managerial job was with Bangor City who he joined in July 1935 and left in April 1936 when he retired.

His elder brother Ben Hadley also played for West Bromwich Albion.