Michael Gordon Harford (born 12 February 1959) is an English football manager and former professional player. He is the chief recruitment officer at Luton Town, a club where he has spent a large portion of both his playing and non-playing career. In addition to two separate spells as a player at Luton, including as part of the team that won the League Cup in 1988, Harford has been the club's director of football, first-team coach and manager; the latter role saw him lead Luton to victory in the Football League Trophy in 2009 and win League One in a separate spell in 2018–19.
Harford began his career in 1977 with Lincoln City, later moving to Newcastle United and Bristol City. He moved to First Division side Birmingham City in 1982 and thereafter spent 16 seasons playing in the top division of English football for a number of clubs including Luton, Derby County, Chelsea, hometown club Sunderland, Coventry City and Wimbledon. During his time at Luton, Harford was capped twice by England. In total, Harford's transfer fees over his playing career amounted to over £2.25 million.
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 First Division club 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 caps, making his international debut against Israel in February 1988. He also featured against Denmark in a September 1988 fixture.[2]
Harford was part of the Luton side that won the League Cup in 1988 against Arsenal. He also scored in the final the following year as Luton went down 3–1 to Nottingham Forest. He is a fan favourite of Luton supporters and is often voted as the club's best ever player, such is the regard he is held in at Kenilworth Road.[3] 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, with Luton needing a win to stay up. Harford managed to head the ball from outside his own six-yard box, past England goalkeeperPeter Shilton, into his own net as Luton won the game and avoided relegation. Several years later, Harford admitted that the own goal was deliberate.[4] Harford then re-joined the Hatters in September 1991 for £325,000, despite competition from Manchester United. Harford scored 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 regretted not signing Harford, as he felt 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.[5]
Following Luton's relegation, Harford moved on again, this time to Chelsea for £300,000 in August 1992. During his time 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.[6] Despite being the top scorer at the club in the 1992–93 season, he was sold in March 1993 to his hometown club Sunderland in a £250,000 transfer deal.
Harford 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 fifteenth-minute substitute against Newcastle. He scored the winning goal, but 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 Premier League for the 1993–94 season.[7]
In August 1994, Harford made his last transfer as a player, joining 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,[8] before he retired and 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.[9]
Coaching and managerial career
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 Three in 2001. In his role as first-team coach, Harford helped mastermind the successful season of 2001–02, which saw Luton storm to promotion back to Division Two. Following the 2002–03 season, the club was sold to a new consortium, and Harford and Kinnear were then surprisingly sacked.[10] Harford was to be offered his job back, but refused to work under the new board.[11]
After the new Luton owners were forced out by supporters,[12] Harford returned to the club in a joint role as Director of Football, with responsibility for player recruitment, as well as first-team coach.[13] 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 contrasting fortunes both sides were displaying – with Forest fighting relegation in the Championship and Luton leading League One – Harford moved onto the City Ground.
Kinnear was to last only a few more weeks at Forest before a poor run of 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 full-time manager in January 2005 and Harford subsequently 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.[14] 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.[15] Harford had an impressive start to his managerial career, but was sacked in December after a run of 17 games without a win.[16] 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.
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.[21]
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.[22] 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 Conference.[23] On 1 October 2009, after a disappointing start to life in the Conference, Harford left Luton by mutual consent.[24]
In December 2009, Harford became assistant manager of QPR for a second time.[25] After the resignation of Paul Hart, 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.
On 17 May 2012, Harford was appointed as assistant manager to Karl Robinson at Milton Keynes Dons.[26] He left just over a year later to re-join Millwall as assistant manager.[27][28] He later became Millwall's Head of Scouting before being replaced by Terry Bullivant in July 2015.[29]
In January 2016, Harford made a return to Luton Town as chief recruitment officer with responsibility for scouting.[30] Following Luton manager Nathan Jones' departure to Stoke City in January 2019, Harford was appointed as the club's caretaker manager.[31] After five wins in his first six league games in charge, putting the club six points clear at the top of the League One table, Harford's appointment was extended until the end of the 2018–19 season.[32] After guiding Luton to the League One title, Harford was awarded the League One Manager of the Year Award for 2019 by the League Managers Association.[33]
Following Graeme Jones's departure from the club by mutual consent in April 2020, Harford was once again appointed as temporary interim boss at Luton Town but due to the suspension of football due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Nathan Jones' return to the club, Harford did not manage any games.[34]
In July 2021, it was revealed by Luton Town that Harford would be stepping away from duties at the club as he was fighting Prostate cancer and would begin radiotherapy treatment in August.[35] On 7 January 2022, the club announced that Harford would return to the dugout that weekend after completing his course of radiotherapy.[36]
In November 2022, following the departure of Nathan Jones to Southampton, Harford was re-appointed caretaker manager.[37]
Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[38]
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Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. Rising back to the top flight of English football for a season in 1974–1975, the remainder of the decade was spent in the second tier. David Pleat's appointment as manager in 1978 prompted the development of a strong team that won promotion after the 1981–1982 season; Pleat consolidated Luton's position in the top tier before leaving in 1986. Ray Harford's Luton team subsequently achieved a 3–2 victory over Arsenal in the 1988 League Cup Final, before settling for runners-up medals at the next year's Final after losing 2–1 to Nottingham Forest. Luton Town were relegated from the top flight after the 1991–1992 season, after ten successive seasons as a top division club.
The 2008–09 season was the 123rd season in the history of Luton Town Football Club. The team's 24th-place finish in League One in 2007–08 meant the club competed in League Two. The club was docked 30 points at the start of the season; 10 by The Football Association for irregular matters involving player transfers, and 20 by the Football League for breaking rules on exiting administration. As a result, the club finished bottom of the league and were relegated to the Conference Premier. The season was not, however, without success – Luton beat Scunthorpe United 3–2 at Wembley to win the Football League Trophy for the first time.
The 2009 Football League Trophy Final was the 26th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from Football Leagues One and Two, the Football League Trophy. The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 5 April 2009, the second time that the final had been staged at the stadium since it was rebuilt. The match was contested between Luton Town and Scunthorpe United. Luton won the match 3–2 with Claude Gnakpa scoring the winner five minutes into extra-time.
The 2001–02 season was the 116th season in the history of Luton Town Football Club. The club's 22nd-place finish in Division Two in 2000–01 meant they competed in Division Three for the first time in 33 years. After a summer of upheaval from manager Joe Kinnear, the club comfortably secured automatic promotion by finishing in second place in the league, 18 points ahead of their nearest rivals. Cup competitions proved to be far less of a success, with Luton exiting the FA Cup, League Cup, and Football League Trophy at the first hurdle.
The 2002–03 season was the 117th season in the history of Luton Town Football Club. The club's promotion from the Third Division in the previous season meant they competed back in the Second Division, their 82nd consecutive year in the Football League. Luton finished in ninth place, though a poor late run of games prevented the club from reaching the play-offs.
The 2000–01 season was the 115th season in the history of Luton Town Football Club, the club's 80th consecutive year in the Football League and its 83rd overall. Luton ended the season relegated from the Second Division, dropping into the basement level of League football for the first time since the 1967–68 season. The club went through a total of three managers following the departure of Lennie Lawrence; firstly Ricky Hill, then Lil Fuccillo, and eventually settling on Irishman Joe Kinnear. Under Kinnear's management, Luton underwent an initial resurgence, winning five of out of his first seven games. However, they failed to win any of their games in the final quarter of the season and ultimately slipped into the Third Division. Luton won only nine league games all season, setting a club record for the fewest wins over a 46-game season.
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