Mick Harford

Mick Harford
Personal information
Full nameMichael Gordon Harford
Date of birth12 February 1959
Place of birthSunderland, England
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
Millwall (Head of Recruitment)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1977–1980Lincoln City115(41)
1980–1981Newcastle United19(4)
1981–1982Bristol City30(11)
1982–1984Birmingham City92(25)
1984–1990Luton Town139(57)
1990–1991Derby County58(15)
1991–1992Luton Town29(12)
1992–1993Chelsea28(9)
1993Sunderland11(2)
1993–1994Coventry City1(1)
1994–1998Wimbledon60(9)
Total582(186)
National team
1988England2(0)
Teams managed
2004–2005Nottingham Forest (caretaker)
2005Rotherham United
2007Queens Park Rangers (caretaker)
2008–2009Luton Town
2010Queens Park Rangers (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Michael Gordon "Mick" Harford (born 12 February 1959), is an English former football player turned manager. He is currently the head of recruitment at Championship club Millwall.

He is former manager of Rotherham United and Luton Town and has also been caretaker manager of Nottingham Forest and QPR.

Playing career

Born in Sunderland, Harford joined Lincoln City in 1977. He was at Lincoln for just over three years before he moved on to Newcastle United in a £180,000 transfer. After just 19 appearances and eight months at Newcastle, Harford moved on again, this time to Bristol City for £160,000 in August 1981. Seven months later, Harford had impressed enough to gain a move to Birmingham City for £100,000 in March 1982.

Harford continued to impress at Birmingham and in December 1984, then Luton Town manager David Pleat added Harford to his side for a £250,000 fee. In his time at Luton, Harford earned himself two England team caps, making his international debut against Israel in February 1988. He also featured against Denmark in a September 1988 fixture.[1]

Harford was part of the side that won the League Cup in 1988 for Luton against Arsenal. He also scored in the Final the following year as Luton went down 3–1 to Nottingham Forest. He is often voted the best ever Luton Town player, such is the regard he is held in at Kenilworth Road. He was a key player at Luton until his transfer to Derby County in January 1990 for £450,000. Even after his transfer, Harford managed to help the Hatters in their fight against relegation, as in the last game of the season Derby County played Luton Town, and Luton needed the win to stay up. Harford managed to head the ball from outside his own box, past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, into his own net as Luton won the game and avoided relegation. Several years later, he admitted that the own goal was deliberate.[2] Harford then rejoined the Hatters in September 1991 for £325,000, despite competition from Manchester United. Harford managed a credible 12 goals from 29 league games as the Hatters were relegated from what was about to become the Premier League.

United manager Alex Ferguson has since said that he regrets not signing Harford, as he feels that it would have made a positive difference to their form in the 1991–92 season, when a shortage of goals in the second half of the league campaign cost them the title.[3]

Following Luton's relegation, Harford moved on again, this time to Chelsea for £300,000 in August 1992, but despite being the top scorer at the club, Harford was surprisingly sold on again in March 1993, to his hometown club Sunderland in a £250,000 transfer deal.

During his brief spell at Chelsea, he scored the club's first goal in the Premier League, finding the net in the 84th minute of his debut at home to Oldham Athletic, who swiftly responded with an equaliser to force a 1–1 draw.[4]

He lasted just four months at Sunderland, before moving to Coventry City for £200,000 in July 1993. Despite being at the club for 13 months, Harford only made one league appearance, as a 15 Minute substitute against Newcastle, and despite scoring the winning goal he never featured for the club again owing to a back injury. He had been issued with the number 9 shirt with the introduction of squad numbers in the FA Premier League for the 1993–94 season.[5]

In August 1994, Harford made his last move as a player. He joined Joe Kinnear's Wimbledon side, for £50,000. Harford would go on to make 60 appearances for the Dons, many in midfield, and scored his last professional goal at the age of 38 years and 34 days against West Ham United in 1997,[6] before he moved into a coaching role at Selhurst Park.

International career

Harford was capped twice for England at senior level. Both of his appearances came in 1988. His first came on 17 February 1988 in a goalless friendly draw with Israel. His second came on 14 September 1988 in a 1–0 friendly win over Denmark, but he failed to get onto the scoresheet. He was a Luton Town player at this time.[7]

Coach and manager

Making his move into coaching with Wimbledon, Harford developed his skills before following his old manager Joe Kinnear, back to Luton Town following Luton's relegation to Division 3. Harford helped mastermind the successful promotion season of 2001–02, as Luton stormed to promotion back to the Second Division. Following the 2002–03 season, the club was sold to a new consortium, and Harford and Kinnear were then sacked. Harford was to be offered his job back, but he refused to work under that board.

After the owners were forced out, Harford returned to the club as Director of Football, as well as being the first-team coach. Harford helped new manager Mike Newell to a 10th-place finish, and his value was proved by then Nottingham Forest manager Joe Kinnear's attempts to make him his assistant manager at Forest. Harford initially rejected the move but in November 2004, despite the contrast of fortunes both sides were displaying, with Forest fighting relegation in the Championship and Luton running away with the League One title, Harford moved onto the City Ground.

Kinnear was to last only a few more weeks at the club before the club's poor form forced him to leave the club. Harford was then appointed caretaker manager, and he performed admirably despite the problems at the club. Gary Megson was then appointed manager full-time in January 2005, and Harford left the club.

Out of work for only a short while, Harford teamed up with Andy King at Swindon Town in February 2005, in a deal that was due to run until the end of the 2004–05 season.[8] In April 2005 however, Harford was appointed the new manager of Rotherham United, whose relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2004–05 season had already been confirmed.[9] Harford had an impressive start to his managerial career, but was sacked in December after a run of 17 games without a win.[10] He was replaced by Alan Knill. Harford finished the season at Millwall, coaching the strikers at the club before their relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2005–06 season.

Harford then joined his former Derby County team-mate Geraint Williams at Colchester United in the summer of 2006, becoming the club's assistant manager.[11] Harford was linked with another return to Kenilworth Road following the sacking of ex-Luton manager Mike Newell, but the job instead went to Kevin Blackwell. He left Colchester to become assistant manager at Queens Park Rangers in June 2007,[12] before becoming caretaker after the departure of John Gregory.[13] Harford left QPR after the appointment of Luigi De Canio.[14]

In January 2008, Harford was unveiled as the new manager of struggling and cash-strapped Luton Town until the end of the season. He committed to stay at Luton despite the club being docked 30 points in the break before the 2008–09 season.[15]

Harford led Luton Town to victory in the Football League Trophy final in a fiercely contested match against Scunthorpe United on 5 April 2009. The tie ended 3–2 after extra time and saw a crowd of 40,000 Luton fans make the short trip down the M1 to Wembley Stadium.[16] However, one week later in the league, the 30-point deduction imposed on the club proved too large an obstacle to overcome, and Harford's Luton succumbed to relegation to the Football Conference.[17] On 1 October, after a disappointing start to life in the Conference, Harford parted company with Luton Town by mutual consent.[18]

In December 2009 Harford became assistant manager of Queens Park Rangers.[19] After the resignation of Paul Hart after 5 games, Harford stepped up to take charge of first team affairs at QPR. He lasted until 1 March 2010 when he was replaced by Neil Warnock.

Mick Harford's appointment as assistant manager to Karl Robinson at MK Dons was announced 17 May 2012.

On the 28th June 2013 it was announced that he would be joining Millwall FC as a coach. [20]

Statistics

Playing record

League appearances only.[21]

Club Season League
AppsGoals
Lincoln City 1977–78 279
1978–79 316
1979–80 3616
1980–81 2110
Total 11541
Newcastle United 1980–81 194
Bristol City 1981–82 3011
Birmingham City 1981–82 129
1982–83 296
1983–84 398
1984–85 122
Total 9225
Luton Town 1984–85 2216
1985–86 3722
1986–87 184
1987–88 259
1988–89 337
1989–90 40
Total 13957
Derby County 1989–90 164
1990–91 368
1991–92 63
Total 5815
Luton Town 1991–92 2912
Chelsea 1992–93 289
Sunderland 1992–93 112
Coventry City 1993–94 11
Wimbledon 1994–95 276
1995–96 212
1996–97 131
1997–98 00
Total 609
Career total 582186

Managerial record

As of 15 April 2010.

Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Nottingham Forest (caretaker)  England 16 December 2004 1 January 2005 621333.33
Rotherham United  England 7 April 2005 10 December 2005 30591616.66
Queens Park Rangers (caretaker)  England 1 October 2007 29 October 2007 522140.00
Luton Town  England 16 January 2008 1 October 2009 9125293727.47
Queens Park Rangers (caretaker)  England 14 January 2010 1 March 2010 811612.50

Honours

As a player

Luton Town

As a manager

Luton Town

References

  1. ↑ "Mick Harford". The FA. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  2. ↑ Harford admits scoring deliberate own goal to keep Luton in top flight in 1991 Daily Mail, 21 August 2011
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Coventry City – 1993/94". FootballSquads. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  6. ↑ Martin, Clare (9 February 2010). "Goal-den oldies: Kevin Phillips becomes the latest Premier League veteran to hit the net". Daily Mail. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "Harford joins King as assistant". BBC Sport. 21 February 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  9. ↑ "Harford named as Rotherham boss". BBC Sport. 7 April 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  10. ↑ "Rotherham United axe boss Harford". BBC Sport. 10 December 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  11. ↑ "Harford is new U's assistant boss". BBC Sport. 7 August 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  12. ↑ "Harford named QPR assistant boss". BBC Sport. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  13. ↑ "Gregory sacked as manager of QPR". BBC Sport. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  14. ↑ "Former Napoli boss takes QPR role". BBC Sport. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  15. ↑ Lee West (9 July 2008). "Luton boss Mick Harford commits his future to the club". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
  16. ↑ "Luton 3–2 Scunthorpe (aet)". BBC. 5 April 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  17. ↑ "Luton 0–0 Chesterfield". BBC. 13 April 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  18. ↑ "Harford parts company with Luton". BBC Sport. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
  19. ↑ "Football – Paul Hart becomes the new QPR manager". BBC News. 17 December 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  20. ↑ http://www.millwallfc.co.uk/news/article/gallen-departure-886245.aspx
  21. ↑ "Mick Harford". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 19 May 2009.