 Morris while withBrentford in 1921. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Hyman Morris[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1897-11-25)25 November 1897 | ||
| Place of birth | Spitalfields, England | ||
| Date of death | 1 December 1985(1985-12-01) (aged 88)[2] | ||
| Place of death | San Mateo, California, United States | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1919 | Vicar of Wakefield | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1919–1921 | Fulham | 6 | (2) |
| 1921–1923 | Brentford | 59 | (29) |
| 1923–1925 | Millwall | 74 | (30) |
| 1925–1926 | Swansea Town | 9 | (5) |
| 1926–1933 | Swindon Town | 260 | (215) |
| 1933–1934 | Clapton Orient | 13 | (8) |
| Cheltenham Town | |||
| Total | 421 | (289) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1938–1941 | IFK Göteborg | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
David Hyman Morris (25 November 1897 – 1 December 1985), known asHarry Morris orAbe Morris, was an English professionalfootballer, best remembered for his seven-year spell as aforward in theFootball League withSwindon Town.
Morris was voted Swindon Town's greatest-ever player by the club's supporters in 2013 and holds the club records for goals scored in a league match, season and career.[3][4][5] He also played League football forFulham,Brentford,Millwall,Swansea Town andClapton Orient. He latermanaged Swedish clubIFK Göteborg.
After being spotted byPhil Kelso scoring prolifically for localHackney Marshes side Vicar of Wakefield,[6][7] Morris joinedSecond Division clubFulham in May 1919.[8] He spent most of his time with the club in thereserve team and scored heavily.[9] Morris managed seven first team appearances, scoring twice.[10] He departedCraven Cottage in June 1921.[10]
Morris transferred toThird Division South clubBrentford in June 1921.[10] With the Bees having finished second-from-bottom in theirfirst season in the league, he helped inspire the side to a 9th-place finish in the1921–22 season,[11] top-scoring with 17 goals in 39 appearances.[12] He top-scored again during the1922–23 season (with 13 goals from 24 appearances),[12] before departingGriffin Park in February 1923.[13] Morris made 63 appearances and scored 30 goals during his 18 months with the Bees.[13]
In February 2023, Morris moved to Third Division South clubMillwall for a £750 fee.[13] Over the course of his time with the club, he scored 30 goals in 76 appearances for the Lions as the club consistently challenged for promotion to the Second Division.[13] He departedThe Den in May 1925.[8]
Morris moved back up to the Second Division to sign forSwansea Town in May 1925.[8] He remained with the club for one season and made just 9 appearances.[1]
Morris dropped back down to the Third Division South to transfer toSwindon Town in June 1926 for a £110 fee.[6] He had a brilliant start to his career at theCounty Ground, nettinghat-tricks in each of his first two matches.[6] He scored in the following two matches to set a club record of scoring in each of his first four games, which stood until it was matched in September 2014 byJonathan Obika.[14] Flourishing underSam Allen's management, Morris finished the1926–27 season with 48 goals from 43 league games (a club record which still stands as of 2024), but problems with the defence meant the Robins could only manage a fifth-place finish.[6][15][16] He also became the first Swindon player to score five goals in a single game, which came in a win overQueens Park Rangers.[6] He repeated the feat in a 5–1 demolition ofNorwich City in April 1930.[6] He also went on a run of scoring in 11 consecutive games during the season, scoring 19 goals.[17]
Despite failing to win anysilverware, Morris was top scorer in each of his seven seasons with Swindon and scored 18 hat-tricks.[6][15] In addition, he was top scorer in the Third Division South in the 1926–27 and1927–28 seasons and his record for the 1926–27 season stands at the eighth-highest single-season goal tally inFootball League history.[18][19] Deemed too old by incoming managerTed Vizard, Morris was released prior to the start of the1933–34 season.[15]
During his seven years with Swindon, Morris scored 229 goals in 279 games and as of 2024 is still the club's leading goalscorer.[20] His overall league goalscoring record is thejoint 16th-highest in English football history as of 2024.[19] In 1955, 22 years after leaving the County Ground, Morris applied for acoaching role with the club, but was rejected.[6] In a poll to celebrate the Football League's 125th anniversary, Morris was voted Swindon's greatest-ever player by the club's supporters.[3]
Morris transferred to Third Division South clubClapton Orient in July 1933 and scored eight goals in 13 appearances during the1933–34 season.[3][8]
Morris wound down his career innon-League football withSouthern League clubCheltenham Town.[13]
Morris was called up byEngland for a trial match, but injury prevented him from taking part.[21]
Morris managedIFK Göteborg between 1938 and 1941.[2][22] He won promotion fromDivision 2 via the play-offs in hisfirst season and achieved2nd and6th-place finishes in the following twoAllsvenskan seasons respectively.[2][23][24][25] He also won the 1939–40 Distriktsmästerskapet.[26] Morris ended his spell with a winning percentage of 67%.[2]
Morris wasJewish.[4] Though he was observant of the faith, he played on Saturdays during his football career and only refused to play onhigh holidays.[4] He was educated at theJews' Free School inLondon and was a member of the Brady Street Boys' Club.[7][9] He served in theMiddlesex Regiment during theFirst World War.[7] Morris was married to Edith and had a son, Jack and a daughter, Estelle, who died from polio in 1937 at the age of eight.[6] Morris, Edith and Jack emigrated shortly afterwards toGothenburg, Sweden, where Morris worked at theBritish Consulate.[21] The outbreak of theSecond World War in 1939 and theinvasion of Norway by theGermans the following year saw Morris and his family remain inneutral Sweden until the end of the war.[21] Through his job at the consulate, Morris helped escapedPOWs return to theUK.[21] The family emigrated to the United States after the war, with Harry and Edith working for theBritish Information Services inNew York City.[21] They retired toSan Mateo, California, where Edith died in 1984, followed a year later by Harry.[21]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Fulham | 1920–21[10] | Second Division | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| Brentford | 1921–22[12] | Third Division South | 36 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 17 |
| 1922–23[12] | Third Division South | 23 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 13 | |
| Total | 59 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 63 | 30 | ||
| Millwall | 1922–23[27] | Third Division South | 14 | 8 | — | 14 | 8 | |
| 1923–24[28] | Third Division South | 37 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 17 | |
| 1924–25[29] | Third Division South | 23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 5 | |
| Total | 74 | 30 | 2 | 0 | 76 | 30 | ||
| Swindon Town | 1926–27[15] | Third Division South | 41 | 47 | 2 | 1 | 43 | 48 |
| 1927–28[15] | Third Division South | 37 | 38 | 5 | 6 | 42 | 44 | |
| 1928–29[15] | Third Division South | 38 | 26 | 5 | 5 | 43 | 31 | |
| 1929–30[15] | Third Division South | 38 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 41 | 29 | |
| 1930–31[15] | Third Division South | 40 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 35 | |
| 1931–32[15] | Third Division South | 38 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 29 | |
| 1932–33[15] | Third Division South | 28 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 13 | |
| Total | 260 | 215 | 19 | 14 | 279 | 229 | ||
| Career Total | 325 | 246 | 24 | 15 | 349 | 261 | ||
IFK Göteborg
Individual