Former Crystal Palace star renovated houses after injury cruelly ended his Premier League dream – and now only Sir Bobby Robson has managed more Champions League games as an Englishman than him

Craig Harrison thought his dreams of a career in football had ended when he suffered a double compound fracture in his left leg at the age of 24 while playing in a reserve game.

The defender had been trying to force his way into the Crystal Palace first-team when the incident occurred which left him unable to play again.

Harrison toiled in vain to get back onto the pitch for a year and half before packing it in and deciding to make a living out of renovating and selling properties.

But after two years the ex-Middlesbrough man took up the chance to manage Welsh outfit The New Saints FC, where he would stay for six years between 2011 to 2017. Ahead of a second stint in 2022.

With the club, Harrison has nabbed seven league titles, four Welsh Cups, three Welsh League Cups and is now only second behind Sir Bobby Robson in the list of English gaffers to manage games in the Champions League.

No English manager has taken charge of more games in the Champions League than Sir Bobby Robson with 30 

Robson’s Newcastle celebrate an equaliser at the Camp Nou against Barcelona in 2002

TNS’ first qualifying round second-leg against Norwegian side Hacken on Tuesday will see him draw level with Frank Lampard’s tally of 16 games in the competition.

It is an achievement that the 45-year-old is extremely proud of, though he is acutely aware of the exalted company he is keeping.

‘You look at it, Sir Bobby Robson has been one of the best managers England have ever seen,’ he said on talkSPORT. ‘You can’t put yourself on the same pedestal as that.

‘But I am still very proud to represent TNS in the Champions League.

‘You see a lot of managers in the Championship and Premier League who don’t get to put their wits against the most elite club competition in Europe against the best players and managers.

‘It is a great opportunity, it is something I never thought I’d get into as soon as I broke my leg.

‘I spent two or three years away from football before getting involved again and within the space of 10 years I have done all my coaching badges, got the love of football back and used it to drive me every single day.

Ex-Chelsea caretaker boss Frank Lampard saw his side crash out in the quarter-finals to Madrid

Scott Parker become the fourth English boss to lead a team out in the Champions League knockout stages when his Club Brugge side faced off against Portuguese giants Benfica 

‘I feel like it is a bit of just service done after having it taken away from me too early. Every opportunity I get now, I embrace it, I run with it and try make the most of it.’

Harrison is some way off Robson’s record of 30 games in the competition and, unfortunately for the Welsh champions, barring a thrilling turnaround he is unlikely to improve on his total year following his side’s 3-1 first-leg defeat.

English bosses have not fared particularly well since the European Cup’s rebrand in 1992 with only Harry Redknapp, Lampard, Craig Shakespeare, Graham Potter and Scott Parker managing sides in the knockout rounds. 

The last English manager to win the European Cup was Joe Fagan forty years ago, bringing an end to what had effectively been an English monopoly of the trophy as the then Liverpool boss became the seventh English manager to win the coveted prize in eight seasons.