Mick Harford

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.

Harford began his career in 1977 with Lincoln City, later moving to Newcastle United and Bristol City.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 goalkeeper Peter Shilton, into his own net as Luton won the game and avoided relegation.

Several years later, Harford admitted that the own goal was 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.

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.

Harford was capped twice for England at senior level.

As well as his non-playing roles at Luton, Harford was manager of Rotherham United in 2005 and has been caretaker manager of both Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers.

He has also held assistant manager positions at Colchester United, MK Dons and Millwall, and coaching roles at Wimbledon and Swindon Town.