James Harley (21 February 1917 – 7 September 1989) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Life and playing career

Born in

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Harley played for Hearts of Beath before George Patterson brought him to Liverpool in April 1934. His debut came 28 September 1935 in a First Division match at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. Liverpool won the match 5–0; Harley did not score. Harley never really established himself at first but he stayed loyal to the club and got his chance during the 1937–38 season, missing ten of the 47 fixtures, he was even swapped over to the left-back berth when Liverpool brought Tom Cooper into the starting line-up. Harley carried on in much the same way with 27 appearances in 45 matches, yet again he started the three opening games of the 1939–40 and probably would have carried on playing in either of the full-back roles if it were not for the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

curtailing the careers of Harley and his peers. During the conflict he served with the

Royal Naval Commandos The Royal Naval Commandos, also known as RN Beachhead Commandos, were a commando formation of the Royal Navy which served during the Second World War. The first units were raised in 1942 and by the end of the war, 22 company-sized units had been ...

, and featured for the ''Reds'' in unofficial wartime competitions, rarely until 1944 but more regularly thereafter. After the six-year break Harley returned to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

and played in 17 games of the first post-war

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

winning team, a side that contained the likes of

Jack Balmer John Balmer (6 February 1916 — 25 December 1984) was an English footballer who played as a striker for English club Liverpool. Life and playing career Born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, Balmer played for Collegiate Old Boys ...

, Bill Jones,

Berry Nieuwenhuys Berry Nieuwenhuys, (5 November 1911 – 12 June 1984) was a South African footballer who played predominantly for Liverpool, which he was contracted to from 1933 to 1947. He retired in 1947, returning to South Africa to be employed at the Transv ...

Albert Stubbins Albert Stubbins (17 July 1919 – 28 December 2002) was an English footballer. He played in the position of centre forward, although his career was limited by the onset of World War II. While playing for Liverpool, he won the League Champions ...

Billy Liddell William Beveridge Liddell (10 January 1922 – 3 July 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 ap ...

and Bob Paisley. The 1947–48 season saw Harley put together 21 starts for Liverpool but this to be his last season at Anfield. He was now in his 30s and was no longer seen as a part of the future of the club, and departed when his contract expired in 1948. Harley never got a call for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

but he did represent them in two wartime internationals, which are not regarded as 'official' fixtures.

Honours

Liverpool *

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

champions: 1946–47

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harley, Jim 1917 births 1989 deaths Footballers from Fife Scottish footballers Men's association football fullbacks Liverpool F.C. players English Football League players Royal Navy personnel of World War II Scotland wartime international footballers Hearts of Beath F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players