13 Years at Shawfield
In 1949 Harry was spotted playing in a Charity match and invited to join Renfrew Juniors. He only stayed at Western Park a few months before, on the 1st of September 1949, he signed for Clyde. Interestingly, Clyde had signed him on word-of-mouth – without anyone from the club having seen him play.
His debut came in a friendly against Portsmouth at Shawfield, and he kept his place to make his competitive debut on the 8th of October 1949, in a league match at Shawfield where Clyde beat St Mirren 2-0. Harry played with Clyde for just over 13 years, making his last appearance in November 1962, and in that time made 531 (competitive) appearances out of a possible 618. Additionally, Harry was ever-present in three of his thirteen seasons; 51-52, 58-59 and 59-60.
Harry’s career total of thirteen Clyde goals, eleven of which came from the spot, equates to an exact average of one per season. His first didn’t arrive until the 21st of January 1956, and came in a 4-1 win over Dundee at Shawfield –this was Harry’s 222nd game! Harry did score two goals from open play for Clyde, easily the best of which came at Rugby Park in October 1957, and was apparently a screamer from 35 yards – in his 312th game!
Harry played in four Glasgow Cup Finals, and four Glasgow Charity Cup Finals. The successful Glasgow Cup Finals came in 1951, when as a Second Division team we beat First Division Rangers, Queens Park and Celtic in that order, and 1958, when we beat Rangers 1-0 at Ibrox after a 0-0 draw at Hampden, Johnny Coyle scoring the winner.
Glasgow Charity Cup Finals were just as fruitful. In 1952 we shared the trophy after a draw with Third Lanark, and in 1958 we repeated our Glasgow Cup Final victory over Rangers, this time though the score was 4-0 in Clyde’s favour. In 1961 we again shared the trophy, this time with Celtic.
Before we look at the REALLY big finals, it is worth considering that Harry also played in most of the significant floodlit friendlies throughout the fifties, including the 4-1 beating of Manchester United and the 3-1 win over Sunderland, both at Shawfield.
In terms of competitive matches, Harry can also lay claim to have played in many significant Clyde matches, such as our record home win (Clyde 11 Cowdenbeath 1), our record away win (Stenhousemuir 0 Clyde 8), and our first Sunday match, which is also our first victory on foreign soil in a competitive match, and our record away win in Europe – Lens 0 Clyde 4. He also played in the return leg of the Anglo-French Cup against Lens (2-1 to Clyde), in Clyde’s record League Cup win (Clyde 10 Stranraer 0), and Clyde 7 Aberdeen 2 in 1960, a match where Clyde’s seven goals were scored by seven different players, the first of which was Harry Haddock (from the spot)!
Then came the Scottish Cup Finals. In 1955 he played his part in both the 1-1 draw with Celtic on Saturday 23rd April 1955, and four days later he again played as Clyde beat Celtic 1-0 to claim the trophy for the second time. The 1958 Cup Final was also successful, this time Clyde beat Hibs 1-0, and this time Harry took the steps up to receive the cup as club captain, and became only the third Clyde captain to do this. Harry had one more big match in the Scottish Cup left to go, the semi-final in 1960 against Kilmarnock at Ibrox. Sadly it wasn’t to be, as Clyde went down 2-0 to the Ayrshire team.
The successful Glasgow, Charity and Scottish Cup Finals didn’t provide Harry’s entire haul of medals. Although the fifties were an incredibly successful period for the Bully Wee, there were two relegations to contend with, and another came along in the early sixties. Each of those sojourns into the unknown were successful, thus in 1952, 1957 and 1962 Clyde – and Harry – came immediately back with Division Two Winners Medals. In 1952, by virtue of being a Second Division team, we were entered into the B Division Supplementary Cup. Victory over St Johnstone in the two-legged final meant the trophy also rested in the Shawfield Boardroom.
Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed that 1951 and 1952 is referred to on more than one occasion, four times in fact. Harry was an ever-present member of the Clyde team of 1951/52 that could rightly claim to hold FOUR trophies simultaneously; the Second Division Championship; the Glasgow Cup; the Glasgow Charity Cup (albeit shared with Third Lanark); and the B Division Supplementary Cup.
The Caps
When it came to representative matches, Harry was just as prolific, representing Scotland, the Scottish League, and Glasgow. Harry’s SIX full international matches for Scotland included two matches against the great Hungarians, two matches against the English, and one match each against Yugoslavia and Portugal.
Harry also represented the Scottish League on seven occasions; three times against the League of Ireland, twice against the Irish League, and single matches against the English League and Danish League. Harry can boast seven wins from these matches, and he even managed a goal against the English League at Hampden in 1955 – from the spot!
Then there were the annual Glasgow versus Sheffield matches. A series that had started in 1874, it had been abandoned in 1949, but the onset of floodlights gave this match a new lease of life. In 1954 it was restarted, and it ran for seven years until finishing in 1960. Harry played in all seven of these matches, and was captain of the Glasgow team for the last fixture in 1960.
On a personal level, Harry was the recipient of one of the most prestigious awards available to Scottish footballers in the fifties and sixties – Rex Kingsley’s Footballer of the Year. There were no official awards, but this was generally recognised as the most prestigious, and was awarded by Rex Kingsley, a journalist with the Sunday Mail. Famous names such as Gordon Smith and Dave MacKay had won previously, and in 1959 it was Harry Haddock’s turn. The award came right at the end of the best decade to be a Clyde fan, and was fitting tribute to a Clyde legend. Incidentally, the award came with a trophy, and a meal and formal ceremony in St Andrew’s Halls, Charing Cross, Glasgow – Harry’s was on Valentine’s night 1960.
Mention Harry Haddock and you have to mention sportsmanship. Harry, you see, was never ordered off. Indeed, it is entirely possible he went through his entire career without being admonished by a referee. When Scotland went to Wembley in 1955, Harry was the left back that had to face outside-right Stan Matthews. Stan’s dribbling and skill helped England to a 7-2 win, but Harry was rightly praised for NOT resorting to foul means to stop Stan. That started a friendship between the two men that lasted the rest of their lives.
To conclude, with a headline taken from a book that sums Harry Haddock up:
“Defender Without An Enemy, Harry Haddock, Clyde”.