Harris spent one year in charge of Burton then moved to former side Distillery in a purely managerial capacity. He was appointed manager of
Swansea Town in 1934 and soon after arriving at the
Vetch Field signed his son
John, a defender, from
Swindon Town. Incidentally, Neil's brother
Joshua ('Jack') was also a professional footballer, who played for several years with
Leeds United among others; however, they were not related to
Joe Harris, also from east Glasgow who played for Partick and Newcastle in the same era. Five years later Harris moved to his son's former side, after
Ted Vizard left Swindon in June 1939. Due to the
impending war, he was originally only offered a year's contract but, after negotiation, this was extended to end in March 1941. Just three games into his first season in charge, the Football League programme was abandoned, and Harris remained in charge for the club's season in the
South West Regional League. During this season, players were often called up for military duties in the build-up to a game, and every club in the league used "guests" to make up the starting eleven - sometimes players even played under aliases to avoid detection by their officers. Before one game at
Bristol City, Harris, now 45, was forced to come out of retirement himself to make up the numbers. He borrowed a pair of boots which were too small, and lost two toenails as the Town lost 5–2. By the end of the season, it was decided that the club could no longer continue whilst the war did, and Harris was relieved of his duties in August 1940, with the intention of him returning to the hotseat when the war ended. Harris died a year later. ==References==