Searson: Harold Vincent (Harry)

1949-1952 (Player Details)

Goalkeeper

Born: Mansfield: 03-06-1924

Debut v Carlisle United (h): 07-01-1950

6’1” 12st 7lb (1949)

Searson was educated at High Oakham School and played for Mansfield and Nottinghamshire Schools and North Notts League side, Bilsthorpe Colliery, who he joined in 1941, before serving with the Fleet Air Arm in India. In 1942 he joined Sheffield Wednesday as an amateur, turning professional in August 1946. He did not feature in the Owls senior team and he returned to Mansfield Town in June 1947. He played forty-two times for them before he was transferred to Leeds for £2,000 in January 1949. ‘Polly’ Searson earned a reputation for long kicking and an ability to gather high centres during his days with Leeds. United had found it hard to stop conceding goals in the years after football resumed after the Second World War as Jim Twomey was well into his thirties and Harry Fearnley did not seem to be the answer. They saw Searson as the man to stem the flow of goals conceded and so it proved. After a settling in period he became an ever-present, playing almost eighty games consecutively from January 1949 to October 1950 and was the rock on which the Leeds uncompromising defence was built on during their epic performances in the Cup and League in the second half of the 1949-50 season. He famously had a good luck charm in the form of a mascot doll named ‘Lulu’ which he carried onto the pitch with him each game and placed it in the net throughout the game. It was a feature of United’s 1949-50 run of victories but it had more to do with John Charles and the Leeds defence than any good luck charm.There was a rivalry with Jack Scott which started in the 1950-51 season and carried on through the 1951-52 season which saw first one and then the other in the last line of defence, before Scott finally wrested the spot in the last two months of the 1951-52 season. During his time with Leeds Searson was football coach to the Hunslet Boys’ Club and a noted club cricketer. When Scott had established himself, Searson accepted the inevitable and joined York City in November 1952. He stayed at York until 1954 and made sixty-two appearances, before he joined Corby Town in June of that year. He was also one of the few post-war players to play on his wedding day and after retirement continued to live in Corby Northamptonshire.