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From the Vaults
THE MEN
IN CHARGE Town Historian Phil Harrison reviews the successes and failures of the Club’s managers over the years...
STAN HALL 1969-70
Managerial Record: Games 24 / Won 8 / Drew 7 / Lost 9
30-year-old centre half Stan Hall joined Harrogate Town from Yorkshire League Selby Town and made his first team debut on 6 February 1965 in a 1-1 draw at home to Bridlington Town in Yorkshire League Division One. He played two seasons with Town making 25 appearances before retiring from active soccer and hanging up his boots in January 1966.
He had enjoyed 15 years of Yorkshire league football with Farsley Celtic and Selby as captain. After retiring, he continued at Town helping manager Jack Townrow in the gym with training. I remember it well, aged 17 in 1966/67, him training us in the gym at a school in Knaresborough especially with the ‘medicine’ ball. That strengthened you up.
After Townrow’s death in April 1969, Hall was approached by Town officials to take over as manager/coach. A youth leader, Hall described the facilities for young people in the Town ‘deplorable’. They could train on the Stray on light evenings but he wanted them to possess a gym of their own for winter months for training. Hall even went to watch Don Revie’s Leeds players training to see their advanced coaching techniques.
For 1969/70, Hall was the first manager to actually select the team over a committee and the local paper wrote, ‘Players will now know where leadership is coming from. This was a big change for the committee to leave selection to the men on the touchline. Hall’s tenure at the helm, however, didn’t last long, as he resigned in February 1970 with Stan’s assistant ‘Chick Farr’ taking over until the end of the season. Hall’s short stay brought eight league and cup victories, seven draws and nine defeats from 24 games.
