Harry Cripps

Henry Richard "Harry" Cripps (29 April 1941 – 29 December 1995) was an English professional footballer who played for South East London side Millwall for the majority of his career, becoming a cult figure in the process.

Harry Cripps
Personal information
Full name Henry Richard Cripps[1]
Date of birth (1941-04-29)29 April 1941
Place of birth Dereham, England
Date of death 29 December 1995(1995-12-29) (aged 54)
Place of death Wanstead, England
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1958–1961 West Ham United 0 (0)
1961–1974 Millwall 400 (37)
1974–1976 Charlton Athletic 20 (4)
Teams managed
1980–1982 Barking
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Initially on the books of Millwall's bitter rivals West Ham, he was a member of the FA Youth Cup Final team of 1958-59 alongside Bobby Moore, Eddie Bovington and Jack Burkett.

Cripps was signed by The Lions in 1961 and made his first team debut on 19 August 1961 against Wrexham 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 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, Keith Weller and Eamon Dunphy. 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, as well as assistant manager at Charlton and manager of Barking between August 1980 and January 1982.[2] He was also a coach in the contrasting environment of Winchester College, an elite fee-paying College.

Death

Cripps died of a heart attack on 29 December 1995.[3]

Tributes

Arry's Bar at The Den is named in his honour.[4]

References
  1. "Harry Cripps". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  2. Archive – Past Managers Archived 16 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine Barking F.C.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "IPSO Enter The Lion's Den". International Professional Scouting Organisation. Retrieved 12 March 2018.

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