Henry Richard "Harry" Cripps (29 April 1941 – 29 December 1995) was an English professional footballer who played for South East London side

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

for the majority of his career, becoming a cult figure in the process.

Career

Initially on the books of Millwall's bitter rivals

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, he was a member of the FA Youth Cup Final team of 1958–59 alongside Bobby Moore,

Eddie Bovington Edward Ernest Perrian Bovington (born 23 April 1941) is an English former footballer who played for West Ham United as a right-half. Bovington played junior football with West Ham, and was a member of the FA Youth Cup Final team of 1958–59 ...

and

Jack Burkett Jack William Burkett (born 21 August 1942) is an English former professional footballer who played as a full-back in the Football League for West Ham United and Charlton Athletic, and was player-manager at League of Ireland team St Patrick's ...

. Cripps was signed by The Lions in 1961 and made his first team debut on 19 August 1961 against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

following an injury to Johnny Gilchrist. He rapidly became a fan favourite due to his bustling, combative performances at full back, always looking to get forward and score goals, and becoming renowned as a fearless tackler. He was particularly prominent during Millwall's successive promotion seasons in the mid-1960s, during which time the team began an unbeaten home record at

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which i ...

which extended to 59 matches (1964–1967), drawing on the intimidating atmosphere generated by Millwall's famously vociferous fans. This period saw the club return to Division Two after a lengthy absence, under the guidance of Manager Billy Gray and later, Benny Fenton. He was also a key part of what was perhaps Millwall's greatest ever side that narrowly missed out on promotion to the old Division One by just one point, during the 1971–72 season, that also included the likes of

Barry Kitchener Barry Raymond Kitchener (11 December 1947 – 30 March 2012) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre-back for Millwall between 1966 and 1982. Born in Dagenham, Essex, Kitchener signed for Millwall in August 1965 and made ...

, Keith Weller and

Eamon Dunphy Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retirin ...

. He left the club after fourteen seasons to join Charlton in 1974, by which time he had amassed a record-breaking 400 league appearances for The Lions, beating the record of Jimmy Forsyth of 321 Football League appearances. He later became a coach at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, as well as assistant manager at Charlton and manager of

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

between August 1980 and January 1982. In February 1990, Cripps was appointed manager of

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lon ...

. Cripps only managed a single game for Purfleet, a 4–0 Isthmian League defeat against Woking on 9 February 1990, having a stroke soon after. He was also a coach in the contrasting environment of

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

, an elite fee-paying College.

Death

Cripps died of a heart attack on 29 December 1995.

Tributes

Arry's Bar at

is named in his honour.

References

External links

Millwall Hall of Fame profile

in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cripps, Harry 1941 births 1995 deaths English footballers Association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Southend United F.C. non-playing staff Barking F.C. managers Thurrock F.C. managers People from Dereham English football managers Association football coaches