Ray Harford

Raymond Thomas Harford (1 June 1945 – 9 August 2003) was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player.

He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation.

During his playing days he was a centre-half, and made 354 league appearances in an eleven-year career in the Football League.

He began at Charlton Athletic as a youth player in 1960, though only managed three league appearances before his departure in 1966, when he joined Exeter City.

He then moved on to Lincoln City, making 161 league appearances for the club before his departure to Mansfield Town.

He started his playing career as a centre-half at Charlton Athletic as an amateur in May 1961, turning professional at Frank Hill's Second Division side in May 1964.

He made his debut in a 5–2 defeat to Peterborough United at St James Park and missed just one Third Division game in the remainder of the 1965–66 season.

He joined Exeter City for a fee of £750 in January 1966 following a recommendation to the club trainer Jock Basford, who was at Charlton when Harford joined them from school.

He played in 38 league matches throughout the 1966–67 season, scoring one goal against Bradford Park Avenue.

In July 1967, he signed with Lincoln City, then in the Fourth Division and led by Ron Gray.

The "Imps" missed out on promotion by five points in 1968–69 and finished eighth in 1969–70, before dropping down to the re-election zone under Bert Loxley in 1970–71.

Harford had played close to 200 games in four years at Sincil Bank.

He was bought by Port Vale for a £5,000 fee in December 1971, who then sold him on to Colchester United in February 1973 for £1,750.

In June 1971, he secured a move to Third Division Mansfield Town, quickly followed by a move to league rivals Port Vale in December 1971, whose manager Gordon Lee paid Mansfield £5,000 for his services.

He was a regular for the rest of the season, but fell out of favour in August 1972.

The Layer Road side finished in the Football League's re-election zone in 1972–73, with Harford making 21 appearances, scoring one goal.

He helped Colchester to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1973–74, before he moved into non-League football with Romford in 1975, before retiring due to a knee injury.

In January 1973, he was loaned out to Jim Smith's Colchester United, before the deal was made permanent the next month for a price of £1,750.

The "U's" secured promotion in 1973–74 with a third-place finish; Harford was also given the Colchester United Player of the Year award in 1974 for his performances in this 48 games that season.

After another 49 appearances in the 1974–75 campaign, he left the United to play for non-League Romford.

The next year knee troubles ended his playing career, and he returned to Colchester as youth coach in September 1975.

In 1982, Harford was appointed assistant manager at Fulham under Malcolm Macdonald, helping the side finish fourth in the Second Division a year after promotion – one place short of promotion to the First Division.

He was appointed as Fulham manager in April 1984, though he resigned in June 1986 after a financial crisis led to his team suffering relegation.

In April 1984, he was promoted to the position of manager, and his first full season as a manager was reasonably successful, with the club managing a ninth-place finish, nine points off promotion.

At the end of the season, however, it emerged that the club had fallen into severe financial difficulties, forcing the sale of most of the first team.

Harford was able to cobble together a side for the next season from free transfers and youth players, but it wasn't enough.

The side were relegated by a huge margin, and Harford resigned shortly afterwards.

In the summer of 1986, Luton Town manager David Pleat resigned and was replaced by John Moore.

Harford was signed by Luton as assistant manager and helped the club finish seventh in the old First Division.

At the end of the 1986–87 season, Moore resigned as manager and Harford was promoted as his replacement.

It proved to be an impressive decision.

In his first season as Luton manager, Harford guided the Kenilworth Road club to a 3–2 win over Arsenal in the League Cup final – the club's first ever major trophy.

He took charge at Luton Town in June 1987, and led the club to the final of the League Cup in 1988 and 1989, as Luton won the cup in 1988 before tasting defeat in 1989.

But Luton were forbidden to enter the 1988–89 UEFA Cup because the ban on English teams in European competition arising from the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster still had two years to run.

They also reached the FA Cup semi-finals that year, losing 2–1 to eventual winners Wimbledon – which made Luton the latest of several clubs to have come close to winning the then elusive domestic cup double.

Sacked in January 1990, he was appointed Wimbledon manager in the summer, before he resigned in October 1991.

After spending four years as Kenny Dalglish's assistant, he was promoted to manager at Blackburn Rovers in June 1995, though he resigned in October 1996 following the sale of star striker Alan Shearer.

Taking charge at West Bromwich Albion in February 1997, he switched clubs to Queens Park Rangers ten months later.

He was sacked in September 1998, and subsequently became a coach at Millwall; he was still on the coaching staff at the club at the time of his death.

He was born in Halifax but grew up in south London.