The CV of Leeds United winger Jack Harrison reads like a man who is not exactly afraid of letting his past get in the way.
How many footballers can claim to have represented Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton and also Leeds United, albeit he only made a senior appearance for two of the aforementioned quintet?
Jack Harrison started out in Liverpool’s academy before defecting to Man United. He then returned to Manchester in sky blue following a couple of years over in America. Harrison would later join Leeds in an £11 million – arch rivals of the Red Devils – before coming full circle when returning to Merseyside with the team on the other side of Stanley Park.
A return to Leeds is now likely for Harrison with his second season on loan at Everton proving to be a rather difficult watch.
Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images
Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images
Scott Wootton took Jack Harrison route to Leeds United
In fairness, it is relatively common for young players to swap from one club to their neighbours from down the road when making their way in the world of academy football.
Declan Rice joined West Ham after his release from Chelsea. Ryan Giggs spent two years at City shortly before his explosive breakout in the red of United. Ebere Eze was once an up-and-comer at Reading, Fulham and Arsenal.
Scott Wootton, meanwhile, is 60 per cent of the way towards emulating the aforementioned Harrison. Three years at Liverpool, six years at Manchester United and then three years at Leeds United.
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Of course, Wootton is unlikely to be on his way to Man City or even Everton any time soon – now 33 and plying his trade with Wellington Phoenix in Australia – but, like Harrison, he is one of few who can claim to have donned the jerseys of Liverpool, United and Leeds.
“I wasn’t too sure whether I was going to sign [for Liverpool],” Wootton told the Daily Mail back in 2012, shortly after making his professional debut in a Man United shirt under Sir Alex Ferguson in a League Cup tie with Newcastle.
“United invited me down for a week’s trial and said they wanted to sign straight after that. It was really good.”
Wootton impressed during his handful of senior appearances for the Red Devils. Ferguson praised the young centre-back after handing him a Champions League start against Romanian outfit Cluj.
Understandably, then, there was a feeling that Leeds had pulled off a bit of a coup when securing a £1 million deal in the summer of 2013.
‘I’m delighted to have agreed the signing of Scott Wootton on a three-year deal,” manager Brian McDermott said at the time. “He’s a player who has played in the Champions League and someone we feel will develop with us in the coming years.”
Wootton blames Massimo Cellino takeover for Leeds struggles
Instead, he slipped down the pecking order pretty quickly, forced into a right-back and defensive midfield role after losing his spot in the centre of the backline. Wootton would depart Elland Road on a free in 2016, only months after a calamitous own goal against Watford which rather summed up his time in West Yorkshire.
Though who knows how differently life might have turned out at Leeds for Wootton, who would represent Plymouth Argyle, MK Dons and Morecambe before heading Down Under, had that Massimo Cellino takeover not been ratified 12 years ago.
McDermott, the manager who brought Wootton from across the Pennines and showed such faith in him, would be booted out the door only five months after his arrival.
Massimo Cellino hired his 21st manager in just seven years at Brescia recently. What is it they say about leopards and their spots?
And amid all the chaos over at Old Trafford right now, Wootton is well-placed to explain how a calamitous ownership can lead to perennial underperformance on the pitch.
“It was chaos,” Wootton recalls, speaking to A Leagues 20. “The first six or seven months when I joined it was fine. We had a pretty settled team, a good squad with a lot of experience. I think we were fifth in the league just after Christmas. Everything was going well, I was really enjoying it.
“Then, as soon as the noise of Cellino coming in to take over the club, it went down so quick. It was absolute chaos.
“It just goes to show, going back to Manchester United, the people who call for the Glazers and the lack of direction from the top of the club. When that’s not right, it’s amazing how it influences and runs right through the club.
“That’s what we experienced with Leeds. Managers were getting six or seven matches and getting sacked. Players were coming in left, right and centre. Managers didn’t know who the players were.”