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Gordon Gallagher (Campbell Morrison) 1999-2000
First Regular Appearance: 3.16 (#156) Last Regular Appearance: 3.39 (#179) Duration: EP: 156 - 179 | SE: 3.16 – 3.39 Position: Director of Football / Caretaker Manager (1999-2000) Last Seen: Being sent on his way with a punch from old pal Jerry, having been exposed as the club’s press leak. Gordon Gallagher became acquainted with Jerry Block while the two were young(er) men, and Jerry a travelling businessman abroad in Beirut, where they frequented what was known as the country's only drinking club! Gordon had had minor success in the Scottish Football League as a central defender, a time he lived off after retiring from the game, with boozing, betting and marrying the wrong women(!) always a big part of his life. By the time he'd reached middle age, Gordon had reached a point where his gambling addiction had left him heavily in debt. Knowing Jerry now owned Harchester United, he pays his old friend a visit to try his luck. With Jerry preoccupied with a large loss of insurance following the plane crash, plus the Wembley gunman investigation haunting him, he sees Gordon with all his experience and knowledge as a Godsend. He appoints him as Director of Football, and soon in the club's eyes has proved his worth; when Scott Lucas begins his own one-man strike it is Gordon who (using his typically forceful and shouty methods) makes him return to the club. When Luis gets injured and will be out recovering for months, Jerry allows Gordon to take over as caretaker manager, something many knew had disaster written all over it from the word go. Gordon's old fashioned techniques for formation, and his unwillingness to listen to anyone else's view strains things between he and the team. After clashing with Didier to the point where the valued defender considers leaving the club, things came to a head when Wes Kingsley loses his patience with Gordon's verbal tirades and knocks him flat on his face! While still in the caretaker manager role, the loan sharks Gordon is in debt to turn up at the club and repossess his club car, warning him he still owes them. When stories about the club, players and their families begin appearing in the press, it is clear there is a leak at the club, for all the selected information could only have come from an inside source. In order to get more money, Gordon makes a bet on Harchester losing to Leeds, and drops several first team players to replace them with inexperienced youth teamers. Marilyn Harwood believes she has found the leak in Gordon, and bugging his office phone catches him selling a fake story she'd concocted - but also placing the bet on Leeds beating Harchester! When Jerry learns what his so called friend has done, he fires Gordon, but not before sending him on his way with a punch. Campbell Morrison passed away aged 55 in January 2008. His English local paper The Wiltshire Times published an obituary here |
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