Joe Harvey

Joe Harvey (11 June 1918 – February 1989) was an English football player and later manager. He spent much of his career at Newcastle United; he was the club's longest serving captain, manager, and, as of the 2009 – 10 season the last to win a major trophy.

Playing career

Newcastle United

He quickly established himself in Newcastle's young side and after an impressive debut against Barnsley was made captain of the side. Before playing for Newcastle Harvey was an established inside forward, at Newcastle he began to settle in the half-back position. At the end of his first season with the club he was demobbed. Partly thanks to his time as a sergeant, he was an authoritative figure amongst the Newcastle players who had the utmost respect for him. However, his time at the club was not without controversy. In the 1946–47 he was memorably suspended by the club's directors, along with team mate Len Shackleton, after going on strike against the quality of accommodation the club had provided the team. Both players were forced to make a public apology for their actions. Harvey was also believed to have been involved in the illegal selling of tickets for the 1952 FA Cup Final, although he was never charged for this.

Despite the controversy he was still a popular player amongst the supporters because of his attitude and displays on the pitch. In the 1947–48 he was a big part of the team that gained promotion to the First Division, only missing five games throughout the whole campaign. He captained the team to two successive FA Cup victories in 1951 and 1952. He retired from playing on 1 May 1953 at the age of 34, despite still being a first-team regular. His final game was a 1–0 win over Aston Villa. However his involvement in football and Newcastle was far from over as he worked towards becoming a coach. He began attending coaching sessions set up by Walter Winterbottom soon after retiring from playing. These sessions helped him to continue working at Newcastle as a trainer for two years. During this time he watched from the sidelines as the club won the FA Cup for the third time in a five year period. In 1954 he took charge of Northern League club Crook Town who had reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup and took intensive training sessions in readiness for their final against local rivals Bishop Auckland, at the time considered the top amateur side in the country. after a 2-2 draw at Wembley before 100,000 fans and another 2-2 draw at St. James' Park, Newcastle before 52,000 Crook finally emerged triumphant 1-0 at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough in front of a crowd of 39,000. The club felt that Harvey's coaching sessions had made all the difference.

Management career

Wanting to find his way into top-level management, Harvey took control of struggling Barrow. Keeping the club in the league proved near impossible; the squad consisted of just five players upon his appointment. Consequently Harvey had to apply for re-election by goal average only in 1955–56. He soon left Barrow and was appointed manager of Workington in 1956, where he initially struggled too, but Harvey's influence gradually saw the Workington nearing promotion. He applied for the vacant manager's job at his beloved Newcastle United in 1958, but lost out to Charlie Mitten. The position became available again in 1962 and this time Harvey was successful in his application.

Newcastle United Manager

Harvey was appointed manager In June 1962 with his old Newcastle United teammate Jackie Milburn playing an important role in Harvey getting the job. The club was In a poor state and stuck In the 2nd division after relegation from the top flight in the 1960–61 season, Harvey immediately began rebuilding the side with good signings like Jim Iley, Ron McGarry and bringing youngsters Bobby Moncur and David Craig into the first team. Newcastle finished 7th In his first season In charge and then 8th In 1963–64,with Harvey splashing big money out on Wales defender Ollie Burton and Sunderland captain and England International Stan Anderson.With the new look team In place and the addition of some more youngsters like Pop Robson and Frank Clark Newcastle stormed to the 2nd division title In 1964–65.The championship was clinched by beating Bolton Wanderers In April 1965 at St James' Park In front of a crowd of 60,000.After four years away Newcastle were back In the top flight and the form of local lad Alan Suddick with 15 goals ensured a 15th place finish. The 1966–67 season began with Harvey breaking the club transfer record In signing Wyn Davies from Bolton Wanderers for £80,000.Another Important signing followed with Northern Ireland goalkeeper Willie McFaul arriving from Linfield for just £7,000 after impressing on trial. Newcastle finished 20th and just avoided relegation with Harvey making the controversial decision to sell crowd favourite Alan Suddick to Blackpool for £63,000 to fund the signings of Tommy Robson from Chelsea, John McNamee from Hibernian and Dave Elliot. Two summer signings including Scottish international Jackie Sinclair for a big fee of £67,500 from Leicester City meant that Newcastle fared better in 67–68 and in early February Newcastle were just 2 points of 1st place eventually finishing 10th with just 2 defeats at home all season, their best home record since 1949–50,this also meant Harvey had qualified Newcastle United for the Fairs Cup and their first ever outing Into European football.1968–69 was another improvement In the league with a 9th place finish, the real drama was saved for the Fairs Cup with Newcastle winning the trophy in their first ever season in Europe. In the first round Newcastle were drawn against Dutch side Feyenoord,the 1st leg at St James' Park was all Newcastle as they won 4–0 with 21 year old Geoff Allen giving a masterful wing display and destroying Dutch fullback Van der Heide. A 2–0 defeat In Rotterdam could not stop them going through 4–2 on aggregate.Feyenoord would win the European Cup the next season, Round 2 saw Portugal's Sporting Lisbon being paired with Newcastle, a 1–1 draw In Lisbon was followed by a 1–0 win at St James' Park with 'Pop' Robson scoring a stunning early volley as Harvey's men went through 2–1 on aggergate, to avoid confusion with Sporting's green and white hoops Newcastle wore a Real Madrid style all white kit.Real Zaragoza were up next in Round 3 with the 1st leg In Spain bizarrely being played on New Year's Day ended in a 3–2 loss, but a 2–1 win on Tyneside with 'Pop' Robson scoring another 30 yard screamer meant that Newcastle United, the team that were given no chance of winning the competition were now through to the quarter finals. A 6–4 win over 2 legs against Vitoria Setubal set up a 'Battle Of Britain' v Rangers In the semis, Willie McFaul was the hero of the first leg saving a late penalty from John Greig to earn a tight 0–0 draw. The 2nd leg at gallowgate was a tense affair, but a goal from Jim Scott calmed Newcastle down and Jackie Sinclair added a late 2nd for a 2–0 win. The final was against top Hungarian side Ujpest Dosza.Newcastle were underdogs against a team that included Hungary stars Ferenc Bene and Laszlo Fazekas,but these two would not affect the outcome of this final, It was captain courageous Bobby Moncur who hit two goals as Newcastle won the first leg 3–0.The heroes of the 2nd leg were Moncur again with 1 goal and squad players Alan Foggon and Preban Arentoft who scored the other two In a memorable 3–2 win and a very impressive 6–2 aggregate win. Harvey spent the £100,000 prize money on signing Aberdeen playmaker Jimmy Smith who would get the nickname 'Jinky Jimmy' off Newcastle fans because of his stylish skills. Another Impressive finish of 7th In the league made up for the disappointment of going out in the qurter finals of the defence of the Fairs Cup on away goals to Anderlecht.By 1971 the Fairs Cup heroes were starting to fade and It was clear Harvey had to build a new younger team, out went 'Pop' Robson to West Ham United for £120,000,his replacement was a young 21 year old striker called Malcolm Macdonald who cost a club record £180,000 from Luton Town, Wyn Davies at 29 was also moved on to Manchester City as well as Arentoft and Keith Dyson.In Their place came exciting crowd pleasing players Terry Hibbitt,a skillful left winger from Leeds United and Tony Green a Scotland International schemer who signed from Blackpool and added flair and craft to the team. The last player Harvey signed at this time was John Tudor who was signed for a bargain £888 from Sheffield United and he proved to be an outstanding strike partner for Macdonald. With the new look side In place, Newcastle finished 11th In 1971–72,for 1972–1973 Harvey again used Newcastle's excellent youth system and brought through young fullbacks Alan Kennedy and Irving Nattrass,Newcastle Improved and finished 8th, just missing out on qualifying for the UEFA Cup. On a sad note Tony Green was forced to retire at just 26 because of constant knee Injuries, Harvey used the compensation money Newcastle got to sign his replacement Terry McDermott from Bury.1973–74 was a big season for Newcastle United,the new attacking team put together by Harvey was being tipped to take one of the major honours come the season's end. By November Newcastle were 2nd In the league, but they fell away to finish 15th,In the League cup they were knocked out In Round 3,so It was down to the FA Cup.Hendon were first up In Round three and a shock 2–2 draw at home meant that Newcastle had to go through a replay at Vicarage Road to see off the Non League side 3–0.Scunthorpe United were next up In Round four, and another shock 1–1 draw at St James' meant another replay against lower league opposition. Macdonald scored twice In the replay to crush Scunthorpe's hopes In a 3–0 win, Round Five saw a difficult away draw to West Brom, on a quagmire of a pitch and in front of the TV Cameras, Newcastle were majestic winning 3–0 with Macdonald scoring again, Burnley at Hillsborough In the semi final, Macdonald scored two and Newcastle won 2–0, Harvey would sign Burnley defender Geoff Nulty for the next season after impressing In this game. Newcastle United were through to their first FA Cup final since 1955, where they would play Bill Shankly's Liverpool team. Newcastle had a poor build up to final with preparations not going to plan, the tracksuit tops the players were meant to be wearing did not turn up, and they had to wear an unkind looking purple outfit as they walked out at Wembley Stadium.Malcolm Macdonald was the key man for Newcastle, he had scored In every round and scored a total of 8 goals In the Competition. Liverpool played well Newcastle did not, they coasted to a 3–0 win with Kevin Keegan scoring twice. It was the end of an era for Harvey, the next season he signed Mickey Burns and paid Sheffield Wednesday a club record £200,000 for Tommy Craig,but Newcastle could only finish a low 15th,despite getting some kind of revenge on Liverpool,beating them 4–1 at St James' Park. At the end of the 1974–1975 season the fans were getting restless that Newcastle United were not back right at the top of English Football,so Harvey resigned on June 1, 1975,exactly 13 years after he took over as manager.

After Newcastle United

After over 20 years as a player and manager at Newcastle United, Harvey stayed In close contact with the club. In 1980 as results got worse the fans were calling for Harvey's return and he stepped In as caretaker for 2 matches following Bill McGarry's sacking. New manager Arthur Cox used Harvey as an Important part of bringing Kevin Keegan to Newcastle United as a player In 1982.He died suddenly of a heart attack In 1989.

Managerial stats

Honours

As a player

Newcastle United

• FA Cup winner: 1951, 1952

As a manager

Newcastle United

• 2nd Division winner: 1965
• Fairs Cup winner: 1969

External links

• NUFC Official site profile.
• Profile of Harvey on Newcastle United Hall of Fame.
• Profile on Toonarama.