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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 as a youth player at Charlton Athletic in 1960. However, he 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 was bought by Port Vale for a Pound sterling5,000 fee in December 1971, who then sold him on to Colchester United in February 1973 for £1,750. 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.
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. He took charge at Luton Town in June 1987 and led the club to the final of the EFL Cup in 1988 and 1989, as Luton won the cup in 1988 before tasting defeat in 1989. 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. However, 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.
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 nearly 200 games in four years at Sincil Bank. 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. 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 Layer Road side finished in the Football League's re-election zone in 1972–73, with Harford making 21 appearances, scoring one goal.
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 1988–89, Luton again reached the League Cup final but surrendered their crown after losing 3–1 to Nottingham Forest. By the following January, Luton were battling against relegation to the Second Division. Harford was controversially sacked – the relegation battle was won by his successor Jim Ryan who remained in charge until the end of the following season when he was sacked even though Luton had avoided relegation again.
In 1990–91, Wimbledon did well to finish seventh in the First Division, and there were high hopes that the club could qualify for European competition or win one of the two domestic cups during the 1991–92 season. Wimbledon made a slow start to the season, and then Harford resigned in October to take up a lucrative offer at Blackburn Rovers. He was briefly replaced by Peter Withe, who lasted just three months before being sacked and replaced by Joe Kinnear. In the same month that Harford left Wimbledon, the former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish had been appointed as manager of Second Division Blackburn Rovers who had been out of the top division since 1966. Their wealthy benefactor Jack Walker was determined to get the Ewood Park side into the new Premier League, which was due to start in the 1992–93 season. He offered Harford the position of assistant manager at Blackburn and Harford accepted.
The following season, Blackburn finished runners-up to double winners Manchester United. Still, a consolation for the disappointment came in the form of a UEFA Cup place. For much of the season, it had looked certain that the league title would remain at Old Trafford. Still, an erratic run of form by United in March meant that Blackburn drew level on points in early April (kept off the top only on goal difference), but in the end, United surged to the title.
In 1994–95, Blackburn suffered early exits from the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup but their league form was excellent. On the final day of the season, they lost 2–1 to Dalglish's old club Liverpool, but their nearest rivals, Manchester United, were unable to beat West Ham United and the English league championship went to Blackburn Rovers for the first time since 1914. It was also the first time in Harford's career that he had been associated with a title-winning side.
A month after the title success, Kenny Dalglish was promoted to Director of football, and the board offered Harford to fill the manager's seat. On arriving at Ewood Park, he had vowed never to make a fourth move from assistant manager to manager but went back on his word and accepted the offer.
The 1996–97 season also started badly for Blackburn. They failed to win any of their first ten games and were knocked out of the League Cup by Division Two side Stockport. Harford handed in his resignation on 25 October and was replaced temporarily by coach Tony Parkes, who took charge until the end of the season and guided Rovers to 13th in the final table before Roy Hodgson was appointed as permanent manager.
In 2001–02, Millwall finished fourth in Division One and qualified for the promotion playoffs. Everyone at the club was hopeful that a second successive promotion could be achieved. However, those hopes were ended in a semi-final defeat by eventual winners Birmingham City.
Early on the morning of 9 August 2003, Ray Harford died while he was still officially a member of the Millwall coaching staff under Mark McGhee. His funeral was held in All Saints Church, Banstead, Surrey, with many members of the football community in attendance. He was survived by his wife, Maureen, and son Paul Harford. Paul also became a professional footballer and was on the books of Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers, but did not play a senior game for either side. However, he did manage a few senior appearances in subsequent spells with Wigan Athletic and Shrewsbury Town, before a more active career at non-league level.
| + Managerial record by team and tenure | ||
| Fulham | 20 April 1984 | 10 June 1986 |
| Luton Town | 15 June 1987 | 3 January 1990 |
| Wimbledon | 18 June 1990 | 7 October 1991 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 25 June 1995 | 25 October 1996 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 6 February 1997 | 4 December 1997 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 5 December 1997 | 28 September 1998 |
| Millwall (caretaker) | 17 September 2000 | 25 September 2000 |
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