Harry Moger was the dependable understudy who would make good, big-time, on a grander stage.

After an eventful apprenticeship in local football – he had been suspended for turning out as an amateur with Forest Swifts while registered with Freemantle as a professional – he joined Southampton as an understudy to England’s regular goalkeeper, Jack Robinson (although Robinson would soon play his last international, in March 1901, at The Dell). It required that he be patient, waiting for the odd game – never more than five on the trot – over three seasons.

Tall and lean, and confident with high crosses,

Harry could be trusted to step in when Robinson was injured. That may not have been often, but two claims can be made for it. First, Harry was doing better than his brother, Thomas, who would continue to keep goal locally, until joining QPR in 1905 and getting but three games in the Southern League.

Secondly, his competence as a deputy did not go unnoticed. So it was that, at the start of the 1903 close season – before George Clawley could return from Tottenham to replace Robinson – Harry was on his way to Manchester United.  To say that that was a good move would be a considerable under-estimate. After a tentative first season, he became a regular for the next eight, in a side that won promotion to Division I, two championships and the FA Cup. Retiring in 1912, he settled in Manchester, where he set up in business as a commissioned agent.