Harry Dunn (born 5 September 1953), also referred to as Harry A. Dunn, is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player. As a player, he played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, beginning and ending his career with

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

, with spells with

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and Blyth Spartans in between. As a manager, he began his career with Bishop Auckland, before having two spells with Blyth Spartans and

Whitby Town Whitby Town Football Club is an English football club based in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Northern Premier League, the seventh tier of English football. Founded in 1880, Whitby are one of the oldest clubs from the Nor ...

Background and playing career

Dunn was born in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, raised in the village of East Howle before attending school in Durham. At the age of 12, Dunn was involved with the youth team of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

for four years, before joining Derby County's academy set-up. His debut with hometown club

was in 1971, and he joined

in 1975 with whom he gained two

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

winners medals, having scored in the 1977 final at Wembley against

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

. He made 265 appearances for Scarborough in all competitions, scoring 65 goals. He is sometimes confused with another long-standing Scarborough player also called Harry Dunn, who made over 900 appearances for the club and was already at the club before Dunn joined from Bishop Auckland. To avoid confusion, the new signing was given the fictitious middle initial "A" to differentiate between the two players. Therefore, to Scarborough fans he has always been known as Harry A. Dunn. It was the original Harry Dunn who managed Scarborough in 1982, and between 1984 and 1986, and was clubman of the year in 1970 and 1974, and not Harry A. Dunn as it is often reported. Dunn joined Blyth Spartans in 1981, winning a

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

Championship medal, before rejoining Bishop Auckland in 1983.

Managerial career

From 1989 to 1993, he was manager of Bishop Auckland, until he left the club to join Phil Staley at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

. In 1995, he left to manage Blyth Spartans. However, he did not stay long at Croft Park as he was appointed as manager of

in December 1995, steering the Blues to their first-ever promotion from the Northern League in 1997. Dunn then won the FA Vase, at Wembley, days later. Town were promoted again a year on, to the Northern Premier League Premier Division, but he was sacked in September 2004 after a poor start to the campaign, months after missing out in a play-off tournament for the newly-formed Conference North. He returned to Blyth the following month. On 8 November 2008, his Blyth Spartans side defeated

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Shrewsbury Town 3–1, in the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. They went on to defeat

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

1–0 in a second round replay at Croft Park, before losing 0–1 to Premier League club Blackburn Rovers on the same ground in round three, a game which Dunn refused to be moved to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

's St James' Park. Alongside his managerial duties for Blyth, Dunn worked in a caretaking capacity for a Durham nursing home. On 27 April 2009, Blyth confirmed that the club would not be renewing Dunn's contract. Dunn was re-appointed as manager of

in May 2009, before resigning on 4 October 2010. He was appointed as chief scout at Darlington 1883 in June 2012. In October 2017, Dunn followed Martin Gray to York City as chief scout, and is also heading transfer policy and "assessment of forthcoming opponents". He was replaced as York City's chief scout by Peter Whinham by the start of the 2018/9 season. Dunn was appointed chief scout at

in July 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Harry 1953 births Living people Footballers from Bishop Auckland English footballers Men's association football midfielders Bishop Auckland F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players English football managers Bishop Auckland F.C. managers Blyth Spartans A.F.C. managers Whitby Town F.C. managers Darlington F.C. non-playing staff York City F.C. non-playing staff