Much of what has been documented about Harry Topping has been confused by the fact that there was more than player of the same name. Many sources identify two players. While working on Barry Hugman's Football League Players' Records 1946-2005 we discovered, with the help of photographic evidence supplied by Derek Hyde, that there were in fact three of them! Not only that they were all full backs, they were all born in Lancashire in a seven year period and two of them played for New Brighton at different periods. In fact these two also formed the full back partnership for Stockport County in several wartime matches in 1941-42.

 

Untangling the evidence we have these players:

 

Henry Topping

Born Manchester 27/10/1908. Died 1977.

United Glassblowers

Horwich RMI

Manchester United 1932-34 12 apps 1 goal

Barnsley1935 14 apps 2 goals

Macclesfield

Manchester North End

Wigan Athletic

 

Henry Topping

Born Kearsley 21/09/1913. Died 2001.

Trials with several League clubs.

Manchester City 1935 0 apps

Exeter City 1936 1 app

New Brighton 1938 5 apps

Stockport County – wartime matches

Bristol Rovers 1945 2 0 apps (but appeared in FA Cup)

 

Henry Westby Topping (not Westley)

Born Prescot 26/10/1915.

Rossendale United

Stockport County 1938-45 3 apps

New Brighton 1946-47 67 apps

Prescot Cables

 

Henry Westby Topping may still be alive; we were certainly unable to trace his death.

 

However it seems that the PSV coach in 1951-52 was the Kearsley born Harry Topping. He had coached Feyenoord the previous year. He was coach to Norwich City in their 1958-59 run to the FA Cup semi-final. I have seen a book commemorating this in which there is a section entitled `Harry Topping – he stands no nonsense' and a picture of the same man who appears pictured in 1938 on page 54 of the New Brighton Complete Record, and also in a 1945 Bristol Rovers team group. After leaving Norwich he coached Torquay United.

 

The Harry Topping in post-war New Brighton pictures is a different man, and is the same man in a 1938 Stockport photograph.

 

From this you will see that it seems that the Harry Topping who coached PSV died in 2001. Henry Westby Topping was granted a benefit match by Prescot Cables in April 1951, and therefore cannot have been coaching Feyenoord at the same time.

--- In soccerdatauk@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Brown" <jimrbrown@...> wrote:
>
> Hope someone can help me.
>
> I am friendly with the PSV Eindhoven historian. they are trying to trace all
> of their club's coaches for a special celebration.
>
> He wonders if Harry Topping is still alive. He was coach in 1951 (aged 37)
> so I wonder if he is the Henry Westley Topping in the record books as
> having been born 21/9/1913 in Kearsley and played for Man City, Exeter, New
> Brighton, Stockport and New Brighton again (after the war). However I have
> the New Brighton Breedon and there is no mention of him being a coach in
> Holland.
>
> Is this the same man?
>
> Is he still alive. If dead when did he die?
>
> Any info gratefully received.
>
> Jim Brown
> --
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