Mick Harford

Club career

Born in Sunderland, County Durham, 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.

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. He was a key player at Luton until his transfer to Derby County in January 1990 for £450,000. Even after his transfer, Harford inadvertently 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 goalkeeper Peter Shilton, into his own net as Luton won the game and avoided relegation. In 2017 an article claimed that Harford admitted that the own goal was deliberate. However in a direct quote from an interview in 2018, Harford stated the goal was not deliberate. 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.

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. 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.

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, before he retired and moved into a coaching role at Selhurst Park.

International career

Harford made one appearance for the England national B team, in which he scored England's second goal on 14 October 1987 in a 2–0 win over Malta in a friendly. He was capped twice for England at senior level, both of his appearances coming in 1988. His first came on 17 February in a goalless friendly draw with Israel. His second came on 14 September 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.

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.{{Cite news | access-date = 22 January 2016}} Harford was to be offered his job back, but refused to work under the new board.{{Cite news | access-date= 20 January 2016 | archive-date= 4 June 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160604084636/http://www.espnfc.com/story/270386/newell-plans-to-reinstate-hatter-harford | url-status= live

After the new Luton owners were forced out by supporters,{{Cite web | access-date= 23 May 2012 | archive-date= 26 December 2003 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20031226050523/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/3064171.stm | url-status= live | access-date= 22 January 2016 | archive-date= 28 January 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160128111414/http://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/aug/09/sport.comment2 | url-status= live

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.{{Cite news | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 16 September 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230916064748/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/swindon_town/4283681.stm | url-status= live | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 16 September 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230916064649/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/r/rotherham_utd/4419673.stm | url-status= live | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 12 December 2005 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051212113152/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rotherham_utd/4517630.stm | url-status= live

Harford then joined his former Derby County teammate Geraint Williams at Colchester United in the summer of 2006, becoming the club's assistant manager.{{Cite news | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 16 September 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230916064735/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/colchester_united/5253284.stm | url-status= live | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 1 October 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071001185010/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/6740659.stm | url-status= live | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 24 September 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210924163214/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/7021776.stm | url-status= live | access-date= 15 November 2007 | archive-date= 18 March 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090318013901/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/7067651.stm | url-status= live

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.{{cite news | access-date=10 September 2008 | archive-date=28 April 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428044118/http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2008/07/12/luton-boss-mick-harford-commits-his-future-to-the-club-89520-20640706/ | url-status=live

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.{{cite news | access-date = 6 April 2009 | archive-date = 8 April 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090408040739/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7975143.stm | url-status = live | access-date = 13 April 2009 | archive-date = 15 April 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090415104114/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/7979729.stm | url-status = live | access-date = 1 October 2009 | archive-date = 2 October 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091002153551/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/8284283.stm | url-status = live

In December 2009, Harford became assistant manager of QPR for a second time. 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. He left just over a year later to re-join Millwall as assistant manager. He later became Millwall's head of scouting before being replaced by Terry Bullivant in July 2015.

In January 2016, Harford made a return to Luton Town as chief recruitment officer with responsibility for scouting. Following Luton manager Nathan Jones' departure to Stoke City in January 2019, Harford was appointed as the club's caretaker manager. 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. 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.

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.

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. On 7 January 2022, the club announced that Harford would return to the dugout that weekend after completing his course of radiotherapy.

In November 2022, following the departure of Nathan Jones to Southampton, Harford was re-appointed caretaker manager.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Luton Town

• Football League Cup: 1987–88

As a manager

Luton Town

• EFL League One: 2018–19
• Football League Trophy: 2008–09

Individual

• EFL League One Manager of the Month: March 2019

References

References

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2. {{Englandstats. y
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4. Katwala, Amit. (27 February 2017). "12 footballers who scored (or threatened) deliberate own goals – and why".
5. (18 September 2018). "Caldon's Corner: Mick Harford: "People get the wrong idea about me - I just absolutely love football"".
6. (8 November 2007). "Ferguson: 21 that got away". Manchester Evening News.
7. Bingham, Jerry. (15 August 1992). "Football: Chelsea hit by Henry". The Independent.
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13. (17 May 2012). "Ian Wright & Mick Harford join MK Dons coaching staff". BBC Sport.
14. (11 June 2013). "Assistant manager Mick Harford leaves Dons". Milton Keynes Citizen.
15. (10 April 2014). "Mick Harford". Millwall F.C..
16. (15 July 2015). "Harford axed as Bullivant becomes chief scout". South London Today.
17. (19 January 2016). "Mick Harford returns to Kenilworth Road". Dunstable Today.
18. (10 January 2019). "Mick Harford takes charge of Luton Town for Sunderland game". Sky Sports.
19. (12 February 2019). "Luton Town: Mick Harford to remain manager for rest of season". BBC Sport.
20. "Mick Harford". League Managers Association.
21. "Graeme Jones leaves Luton by mutual consent".
22. (19 July 2021). "A special message from Mick Harford...".
23. (7 January 2022). "Mick Harford back in the dugout on Sunday...with Alan Sheehan alongside him!".
24. (10 November 2022). "Nathan Jones: Southampton appoint Luton boss as new manager". BBC Sport.
25. "Mick Harford". Sporting Heroes.
26. Fletcher, Paul. (5 April 2009). "Luton 3–2 Scunthorpe (aet)".
27. (12 April 2019). "Sky Bet League One: Manager and Player of the Month winners". EFL.