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Raymond Thomas "Ray" 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 347 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 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. 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 League 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, 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. ==Playing career== He was born in Halifax but grew up in south London. He started his playing career as a centre-half at Charlton Athletic in 1960, turning professional at Frank Hill's Second Division side in 1964. He played his first senior game in 1966, but soon left for Fourth Division Exeter City, where he played 55 games in less than two years. In 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. In 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ray Harford」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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