129: Mick Harford, Luton Town, Panini’s Football 88 Sticker Album

Around a month ago we cast the net out into the sea that is Twitter for inspiration for future blog posts and Brixton Hatter put forward today’s subject due to his reputation as “a classic centre forward and fearsome opponent for any defender” who is loved and respected as “one of the nicest guys in football and part of the glue that holds the Luton Town community together”. That’s probably part of the reason the landlord at the Football Tavern initially suggested we write him up ages ago. That and the fact he also served as a pub landlord himself. Still, better late than never eh?

In May 2022, despite the very best efforts of returning club legend John Sheridan, Oldham Athletic were relegated to the National League thus becoming the first Premier League side to fall out of the league pyramid. In thirty years the Latics had gone from being part of the supposed birth of modern football, and providers of some great FA Cup moments, to the victims of appalling boardroom leadership facing a challenging new existence under the management of David Unsworth. Such falls from grace have sadly been fairly common in the aftermath of the Premier League with Bradford City currently battling it out in League Two despite beginning this millennium with a star-studded squad in the top flight. Bolton Wanderers, Portsmouth and Swindon Town have also found themselves in the fourth tier despite boasting Premiership pedigree while Wimbledon, as they were in their Premier League pomp, ceased to exist due to the questionable boardroom decision to bugger off to Milton Keynes in 2003.

Had the decision for the top twenty-two sides in English football to breakaway for the Sky Sports shilling come a year earlier then Luton Town would have preceded Oldham by a whole thirteen years. After being relegated from the top flight in 1992 the Hatters’ form fluctuated before a dismal descent from the Championship in 2006 to the bottom of League Two in 2009. The 2008/09 campaign began with a whopping thirty point deduction following years of financial mismanagement and, despite performing well enough to have finished in a credible fifteenth, saw the club crash out of the Football League after 89 years. There were some crumbs of comfort in the form of triumph in the Football League Trophy where Luton secured a 3-2 victory over League One’s Scunthorpe United. At the helm for this cathartic moment was club legend Mick Harford.

Harford had first arrived at Kenilworth Road in 1984 from Birmingham City and his goals helped to maintain the Hatters’ position in the top flight including a club record seventh position in 1986/87. In the next season they finished in a more than credible ninth but also experienced two Wembley finals and a semi-final appearance in the FA Cup. In the latter Harford’s goal was not enough to beat eventual winners Wimbledon who profited from strikes from John Fashanu and Dennis Wise at White Hart Lane. Less than a fortnight earlier he had opened the scoring against Reading in the prestigious Simod Cup Final only for the Royals to emerge 4-1 winners. The Hatters, and Harford, would taste victory, however, in the League Cup. The striker’s six goals had propelled Luton to the final and, thanks to Andy Dibble’s goalkeeping heroics, the Hatters won a dramatic game against a strong Arsenal side.

Less than two years later Mick Harford moved on to Derby County but, at the business end of the 1990/91 campaign, he played a key role in securing Luton’s top flight status for another year. Already relegated Derby came to Kenilworth Road with the hosts needing a win and, apparently innocently, Harford nodded into his own net to help the Hatters to a 2-0 win. No one batted an eyelid at the time, probably due to goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s infamous leaping abilities, but Harford later admitted that he had done his former employers a favour. Luton displayed their gratitude by re-signing the striker and, although his twelve goals could not stave off relegation, his performances impressed the great and the good including Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson who voiced his regrets on missing out on the striker’s signature.

Harford finished his playing days at Wimbledon after short spells at Chelsea, Sunderland and Coventry City and cut his coaching teeth under Joe Kinnear with the Dons before moving, once again, back to Luton. His work as first team coach helped the Hatters to the Division Three title in 2001/02 which made it even more surprising when the club’s new owners relieved him and Kinnear of their duties just a year later. He understandably refused to return to his hastily reoffered job but, following a change in the boardroom, returned in a dual role as Director of Football and first team coach in 2003. It was to be a short stay, however, as he moved to Nottingham Forest, once again as Kinnear’s assistant, and swiftly found himself in the hot seat until the arrival of Gary Megson. After a stint at Rotherham United and various coaching jobs he found himself back at Kenilworth Road ahead of the aforementioned 2008/09 campaign but, after a mediocre start to life in the Conference, Harford left his post in October 2009.

Seven years later, and following spells on the coaching staff at a range of clubs, Harford was once again at Luton Town as chief recruitment officer. When Nathan Jones vacated the manager’s seat in January 2019 for Stoke City he stepped up as caretaker manager and after five wins in six matches was handed the job until the end of the season. The League One title followed and Harford was deservedly awarded the division’s Manager of the Year Award by the League Managers Association. Harford took a step back from first team affairs once again only to see himself named caretaker boss following the departure of his successor Graeme Jones. Covid-19 intervened and Harford did not end up taking to the dugout before the resumption of the Championship in September 2020 and the return of the prodigal son Nathan Jones. 

Less than a year later Mick Harford was diagnosed with prostate cancer and took time away from his role at the Hatters to undergo treatment. The outpouring of well wishes from the football world confirmed his reputation as one of the sport’s good guys and his return to Luton Town following successful radiotherapy in January 2022 was cause for celebration. Nathan Jones’ defection to Southampton just before the break for the World Cup in Qatar saw Harford once again in charge of the club and he oversaw a dramatic 1-1 draw with Rotherham United before the arrival of Rob Edwards. The Hatters currently sit just outside the Championship play-off places and, in a congested battle for promotion, you wouldn’t begrudge Mick Harford being part of the set up that helped Luton return to the top flight after such an epic struggle to get back there.