Alan Hardaker

Hardaker had used the intervening time to read every archived document since 1888 which related to the League and its business and was better prepared to take on the top job.

Alan Hardaker OBE (29 July 1912 − 4 March 1980) was an English football administrator for the Football League, a wartime Royal Navy officer, and previously an amateur footballer.

He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, second son to John and Emma, and younger brother of Ernest.

Alan Hardaker's education began at Constable Street Elementary School in Hull, and from there he was awarded a scholarship to Riley High School, leaving in 1928 with qualifications in typing and shorthand.

He initially went into the family removals and haulage business, until 1929, when he was sacked by his own father for playing dominoes instead of working.

He was able to use his qualifications to find immediate employment as an office junior in the Town Clerk's department at the Hull Guildhall.

He met Irene Mundy when he was seventeen and she was a year younger.

They married eight years later in North Ferriby Church.

They would go on to have four daughters and many grandchildren.

He had first taken up playing football at the High School, and so joined Municipal Sports FC, the Guildhall team.

He was sent off on one occasion during his time with them, for retaliation.

Playing in the centre forward position, he scored one hundred goals in three seasons, although he claimed that most of these were only possible due to the quality of those playing alongside him.

After moving on to East Riding County League champions Beverley White Star (now defunct), he was invited by Hull City to play for their reserve side against Bradford Park Avenue's second string.

He had been converted to full back by this time, and that was the position he took up for Hull City Reserves.

From then on, he played for one or other of the teams on a regular basis for the next three seasons.

In 1935, he captained the East Riding County FA representative team when they won the Northern Counties Amateur Championship.

He was offered professional terms in 1936 by manager Jack Hill, which he turned down, as by the age of 23 he had progressed to become Lord Mayor's secretary at the Guildhall.

After then playing eleven games for the Reserves in the Midland League, and coinciding with a change in team management, he was released by the club.

He went on to play for Bridlington Central United (later known as Bridlington Town) of the East Riding Amateur League, and then moved to the Yorkshire Amateur Football Club in the Yorkshire League.

Both his sporting career and his professional life were interrupted by the imminent outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, and in his official capacity as Lord Mayor's secretary he was asked to help start the Humber Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in readiness for hostilities.

He joined them on 12 June 1939, as a payroll lieutenant initially assigned to the light cruiser HMS Calcutta (1918) moored in Hull docks.

However, after the war began, he was transferred to HMS Newcastle (C76), based at Scapa Flow and saw service on the "Northern Patrol", which protected convoys of Allied ships from German vessels sent to attack.

In 1942, after subsequently serving on HMS Cumberland (57), he became a lieutenant commander, and transferred, this time to the de-commissioned torpedo training ship HMS Marlborough (1912) secured at Eastbourne.

He then received a posting to Australia as supply officer to HMS Alert, a shore-based camp in Sydney, and in December 1944 moved on to HMS Golden Hind, a Royal Navy manning depot, also in Sydney.

Whilst in that country, he was able to find the time to resume his sporting career, captaining the Royal Navy football side in organised matches for a single season.

Hardaker remained in Australia until the end of the war, eventually deciding to retire from playing at the age of 34.

For a short while after returning to Great Britain, Hardaker fulfilled the temporary position of clerk to the Education Committee back at the Guildhall, due to his previous job being already occupied.

When he was refused permission to resume his post as Lord Mayor's secretary in Hull, he applied for an identical appointment in Portsmouth and was successful at interview.

He and his young family moved there in August 1946.

In 1950, he was removed from the active list of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve at his own request.

In 1951, the then Portsmouth manager, Bob Jackson, got in touch with Hardaker to say that Fred Howarth, the Football League secretary, was considering retiring from the job, and recommended that he apply.

Vernon Stokes, the chairman of Portsmouth at that time, also urged him to apply.

Stokes later became chairman of the Football Association Disciplinary Committee.

Seen to be answering an advertisement in The Daily Telegraph newspaper inviting applications, he duly submitted his curriculum vitae to the then Football League headquarters in Starkie Street, Preston.

The Management Committee of the League drew up a shortlist of six candidates, which included Hardaker, from an initial response of 410 applicants.

On 1 May 1951, he accepted the invitation to replace Howarth, although this was not to formally happen for another five and a half years, due to the seeming reluctance of the outgoing secretary to actually retire.

Hardaker took up a junior position during this period, at a much-reduced salary and receiving only a small pay rise each year thereafter.

He later indicated in his autobiography that he felt "badly let down" by Arthur Drewry, the League President at that time.

Eventually, on 5 July 1955, a little more than four years after he had been taken on, he was confirmed as assistant secretary to Fred Howarth.

On New Year's Eve in 1956, Howarth deposited his work keys on Hardaker's desk and left the building for the last time, after 23 years' service.