TERRY IS THE NO.1 OF NO.2s
AGOAL in an FA Trophy final for Dagen- ham, an Anglo-Italian Cup win with Sutton United, three tours to Asia with Middlesex Wanderers and titles with Leytonstone and Enfield.
But for the last 37 years, Terry Harris has become one of football’s best at operating in the shadows behind some of Non-League’s most recognisable gaffers.
Assistant to Peter Taylor at Dartford when a back injury forced him into retirement aged 28, he’s also been No.2 to Jimmy Neighbour at St Albans, Garry Hill, John Still and Luke Garrard.
In that time, the 64-year-old has played his part in Daggers winning the Isthmian League Premier title before getting out of the Conference and, remarkably, reaching League One.
Under Still and alongside Hakan Hayrettin at Luton Town, the Hatters were also promoted into the Football League while he was with Garrard when Boreham Wood came within one game of doing the same through the playoffs.
“Our first game in League One for Dagenham was Sheffield Wednesday away,” Harris, who was also with Dagenham when they lost the 2003 play-off final to Doncaster by Golden Goal, says. “I was standing on the touchline with John Still before the game.
“There were 30,000 fans at Hillsborough. They play Hi-Ho Silver Lining right before kick-off and it was banging around the ground. I said, ‘John…Dagenham. This is little Dagenham’.
“That year we played all of them. Southampton with Lallana, Schneiderlin, Oxlade-Chamberlain. There’s been a lot of highs.”
Harris says he played under some fine managers. Keith Blunt and Barry Williams at Sutton, Still at Leytonstone, where they had big success, before Ted Hardy’s famous Enfield side in the 80s. But it all began under Laurie Wilkinson at Dagenham FC.
Experience
“I’ve always lived in Dagenham,” Harris says. “There used to be an old Nissan hut behind the goal and I used to stand there and watch when I was younger.
“Dennis Moore, Ian Huttley, Roy Drake, Jonny Daniels – who unfortunately passed away recently – I used to watch them play. I played for the reserves and was fortunate to get into the first team and played with all the top, top players Dagenham had.
“It was a dream come true because it was my club, I was a young boy, and I played with the people I used to stand and watch. The likes of Kenny Gray and Neville Fox were forwards of the highest class.
“Now Daggers have got their American backing hopefully they will go on because it’s a fantastic club.”
Harris will leave Dagenham at the end of this month when his third spell with the team comes to an end. But the fire still burns for that next opportunity. Harris has never wanted to be a manager outright. He’s a coach and an assistant – a role that has a skillset all of its own.
“It’s not being a yes man,” he says. “Over the years we’ve had disagreements and quite rightly so. You have to, between four walls, say, ‘I understand what you’re saying but I would do this or that. If you don’t agree, that’s fine, and the minute we walk out we’re a team’.”
Harris fondly remembers helping Still unearth gems like Paul Benson, Craig Mackail-Smith and, following a tip-off from Stansted boss Terry Spillane, Dwight Gayle. Not to mention helping the development of Hatters striker Andre Gray, now in the Premier League with Watford.
“He played up-front and his touch wasn’t the best but he was a powerhouse. One day we played him on the right of a three. We said, ‘Just knock the ball past full-back because your power and strength will take you by him’. From then on it clicked for him and he did fantastic. He was pivotal in us getting out of the National League.
“We had good players. Steve McNulty, Ronnie Henry, Mark Tyler. We brought in Cameron McGeehan and had Pelly Ruddock. Everywhere you went it was a big game with Luton.
“When I went there with John and Hakan the story was: Get us out of the league.
“I always remember we went to see their game at Braintree before we took over. I looked at John and said, ‘Jesus’. He went, ‘I know. Phone Dagenham, tell them we’re staying!’ But it was a fantastic experience at a fantastic club. I hope they stay in the Championship now.”
Harris counts his goal in the 1977 Trophy final, Dagenham’s play-off glory at Wembley, Luton’s title triumph and Boreham Wood’s National League promotion final appearance – “Luke is a fantastic young manager” – as his most emotional moments in the game. And he’s keen to have some more.
“I’m not saying they should get the pats on the back because it is the manager who makes the decisions,” Harris says. “But I think No.2s are worth their weight in gold.”