Sunningdale writer, Harry Harris, has been reporting on football for over 40 years, giving him an incredible insight on the rise and fall of 'The Special One.' We have some free copies of his new book up for grabs, enter the prize draw here. Alternatively you can buy a copy of the book here.
L to R: Marcus Gayle, Paul Kapila, Bijan Sedghi, Harry Harris. Photo by Poppy Harris
Sunningdale based writer, Harry Harris has been at the heart of football for over 4 decades, rubbing shoulders with some of the sports most historic figures over the years. His canon of work is incredible, with 74 books about the beautiful game already published and no signs of slowing down. I caught up with him to talk about his latest book on Mourinho’s rise and fall at Chelsea.
Like most journalists, Harry’s career had humble beginnings:
“I’ve always loved football and obviously, like a lot of kids, I wanted to be a professional footballer. However my careers advisor told me I wasn’t going to make it and so I decided I’d become a reporter instead and joined a good sports college with a decent journalism course.”
“After that I got a position with the local paper straight out of college. After a few months working there I was sent off on another journalism course. When I came back the sports editor had moved on and my boss asked the whole office ‘Anyone know anything about sport?’ I put my hand up and he went ‘alright, you’re the new sports editor. That’s how my career began!”
“I’d only been a journalist for 6 months and I was the local papers sports editor. It was a dream job, getting paid to watch spurs play football all over Europe when you’re a spurs fan yourself!”
Harry’s career went from strength to strength, writing for some of the biggest papers in the country.
“After 6 years on the Local North London Weekly Herald I moved to the Evening News in London, then on to the Daily Mail for 4 years when the Evening News merged with The Standard. After that I worked at The Mirror for 19 years, then moving to the Daily and Sunday express for another 8 years.”
Pride and Joy: Harry with his daughter poppy over the years
Seeing the shift in the media from print to digital Harry was quick to get involved with digital sports reporting and all the new possibilities it entailed.
“I moved on to more digital based stuff after The Express, going on to be football correspondent for both ESPN and BT sport. Since then I’ve started my own website with former Spurs and England legend Glenn Hoddle called Zapsportz.com”
Harris has always been attracted to the interesting personalities of the footballing world with books on Pele, Glenn Hoddle, Paul Merson and Ruud Gullit to name a just a few. It is no surprise then, that he found the prospect of writing a book about Mourinho irresistible.
"He’s just such an outlandish character that draws a writer to want to analyse him and his antics! My wife Linda (another experienced journalist whose has been a writer and editor for a number of publications over the years including the Rosemary Conley magazine) is also a big Chelsea fan and so I get a lot of encouragement from her. I’ve written 12 books about Chelsea and she even convinced me we had to call our house ‘The Bridge’ (after Stamford Bridge). I would obviously have preferred to call it ‘The Lane’ after Tottenham’s home ground but that’s marriage for you!”
You couldn't ask for a more knowledgeable expert on football than Harry Harris nor a more interesting character to write about than José Mourinho. It promises to be a thrilling insight into the roller coaster ride that was Mourinho's tenure at Chelsea.
Enter the competition for a free copy of Harrys' biography here
