James Harrower (18 August 1935 – 28 November 2006) was a Scottish 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 lea ...

. Born in Alva,

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; ; ), or the County of Clackmannan, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, Council areas of Scotland, council area, registration counties, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland ...

, Harrower played junior football for

Sauchie Sauchie is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth and south of the Ochil Hills, within the council area of Clackmannanshire. Sauchie has a population of around 6000 and is located northeast of Alloa and ...

Kilsyth Rangers Kilsyth Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire. Nicknamed ''The Wee Gers'', they were formed in 1914 and play at Duncansfield Park, which used to be one of the bigger ''non-league'' f ...

and Bo'ness United before starting his senior career with

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

manager Phil Taylor signed him for £11,000. He made his Liverpool debut on 11 January 1958 in a 2nd Division match at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

were the visitors as Liverpool took the points with a 2–1 victory. The attacking midfielder scored his first goal on 28 March, as Liverpool beat

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

3–1. Harrower was a player with a knack of pulling off amazing trickery with the ball, but like so many players with this ability he lacked the consistency required to play at the highest level; in fact he used to irritate the Anfield crowd who knew what he could do but never saw enough of it. His best season at Liverpool was his first full season 1958–59: he missed just 5 matches and scored 6 goals. Unfortunately for James, the manager who signed him, Taylor, left the club at the end of the campaign and his replacement

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

decided that change was needed. James was vying for the inside-left position with

Jimmy Melia James Melia (born 1 November 1937) is an English former footballer who spent most of his career playing for Liverpool and went on to become a manager. Playing career Liverpool Melia joined the Reds straight from St. Anthony's School as a 15 ...

, but midway through the campaign Shankly decided that Melia was the man for the job. Melia kept the position the following season and the future looked bleak for Harrower in a red shirt; in the March 1961 he was on his way, moving to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. He spent a year on

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

playing just 6 games, he then moved back to Scotland joining

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. He also played for

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They play in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. Founded in October 1882, the club joined the Scottish Foot ...

and

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

. Harrower also represented

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

at Under-23 level.

References

External links

*
Player profile at LFChistory.net

Obituary at the Alloaadvertiser.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrower, James 1935 births 2006 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Men's association football inside forwards Hibernian F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Footballers from Clackmannanshire Kilsyth Rangers F.C. players Bo'ness United F.C. players Scottish football managers Albion Rovers F.C. managers Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Scottish Football League managers Sauchie Juniors F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen People from Alva, Clackmannanshire