Harry Storer (2 February 1898 – 1 September 1967) was an English professional

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 ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er and

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

Early life

Storer was born in

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', Wes ...

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 populat ...

, the son of Harry Storer. He came from a sporting family; his father was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Arsenal and

and played

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, and his uncle Bill Storer played cricket for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Derbyshire and football for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. Storer was educated at

Heanor Heanor (/ˈhiːnə/) is a town in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies north-east of Derby and forms, with the adjacent village of Loscoe, the civil parish and town council-administered area of He ...

Secondary School.

Football career

Club career

After leaving Storer played football for several clubs in the

and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

area, including playing as an amateur for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

. He had trials at

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 ...

, but signed his first professional contract with

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

of the Third Division (North) in February 1919, a few months before

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

resumed after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He played as an

inside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

or left half for Grimsby Town,

, for whom he made more than 250 appearances, and

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, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

International career

He also won two

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for

. His debut was in 1924 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

; Storer, playing at inside left, scored the third goal in a 3–1 win. His only other appearance for England came in the British Home Championship in 1927 against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

; he played at left half in a 2–0 defeat, England playing the second half with nine men after goalkeeper Ted Hufton broke his arm and captain Jack Hill sustained a leg injury.

Cricket career

Storer made his first-class cricket debut for Derbyshire in the 1920 season when neither his bowling nor batting averages were impressive. There was a significant improvements in both areas in the 1921 season, when he scored a century against Warwickshire. In the 1922 season his best score was 99, but he managed 7 for 26 bowling against Northamptonshire. In the 1923 season he was just short of a century again with 94 and dropped in the bowling averages as well. His batting slumped to a top score on 18 in the 1924 season when he managed 5 for 27 against Lancashire. His showing in the 1925 season was also relatively indifferent whereas in the 1926 season he topped the batting table in a run feast including 132 against Somerset while he took 41 wickets including two five-wicket innings. In the 1927 season his batting form continued with two centuries against Nottinghamshire in separate matches and a best bowling of 6 for 47 together with another five wicket innings. He topped the batting scores again in the 1928 season with centuries against Gloucestershire and Kent, and though his bowling was less productive he was an effective stand in as wicket-keeper against MCC for an injured Harry Elliott. His most productive summer with the bat was the 1929 season, when he topped the batting table again with 1,652 first-class runs at 36.71, including four hundreds and seven fifties. Against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, Storer (making 209) and

Joseph Bowden Joseph Bowden (8 October 1884 – 1 March 1958) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire from 1909 to 1930. Bowden was born at Glossop, Derbyshire. He made his debut for Derbyshire in the 1909 season against Sus ...

(120) put on 322 for the first wicket. This remained a record first-wicket stand for Derbyshire until 2017. Storer scored four centuries again in the 1930 season. In the 1931 season his top score was 115 not out and he took a five wicket innings. Storer became manager of Coventry City in June 1931 and played fewer cricket matches per season in the following years. In the 1932 season he played only seven matches and took no wickets, but scored 170 against Middlesex. He played half the club's matches in the 1933 season but achieved his career-best innings of 232, also versus Essex at Derby. In the 1934 season he scored a century against Somerset, but virtually dropped out of the bowling. He managed fewer high scores in the 1935 season. In the 1936 season he played nine matches to help Derbyshire to their

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

win but made this his last season. Storer was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

bowler and occasional

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

He played in more than 300 first-class matches, all of which were for Derbyshire. As a bowler, Storer's best innings figures were 7/26 (including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

) against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

at Chesterfield in 1922.

Football management

Storer became manager of

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

in June 1931, guiding them to the

Third Division (South) The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

title in 1935–36. He left in June 1945 to manage

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

, leading them to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title in 1947–48. Storer resigned as Birmingham manager in November 1948 to return for a second spell at Coventry which lasted until December 1953. He took over as manager of

in June 1955, leading ''The Rams'' to the Third Division (North) title in 1956–57. He was asked to manage the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

representative side in 1956/57. Storer was cited as a major influence on the management style of

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

and

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...

. Taylor had played under Storer at Coventry and later encouraged him to sign Clough from Middlesbrough when Storer was the Derby County manager.

References

External links

* *
Harry Storer Jr.
at Cricket Archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Storer, Harry Jr 1898 births 1967 deaths Footballers from Liverpool English footballers Association football forwards Association football wingers Eastwood Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Burnley F.C. players English Football League players England international footballers English football managers Coventry City F.C. managers Birmingham City F.C. managers Derby County F.C. managers English Football League managers English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945