Asa Hartford

Asa Hartford

Personal information
Full name	Richard Asa Hartford[1]
Date of birth	(1950-10-24) 24 October 1950 (age 74)[1]
Place of birth	Clydebank,[1] Scotland
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Drumchapel Amateurs
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1967–1974	West Bromwich Albion	214	(18)
1974–1979	Manchester City	185	(22)
1979	Nottingham Forest	3	(0)
1979–1981	Everton	81	(6)
1981–1984	Manchester City	75	(7)
1984	Fort Lauderdale Sun[a]	5+	(1+)
1984–1985	Norwich City	28	(2)
1985–1987	Bolton Wanderers	81	(8)
1987–1989	Stockport County	45	(0)
1989	Oldham Athletic	7	(0)
1989–1991	Shrewsbury Town	25	(0)
Total		749+	(64+)
International career
1970–1973[8]	Scotland U23	5	(0)
1972–1982	Scotland	50	(5)
1977[9]	Scotland U21	1	(0)
Managerial career
1985–1987	Bolton Wanderers (player-coach)
1987–1989	Stockport County[10]
1990–1991	Shrewsbury Town[10]
1991	Boston United
1993	Stoke City (caretaker manager)
1996–2005	Manchester City (asst/caretaker manager)
2007–2008	Macclesfield Town (assistant manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Richard Asa Hartford (born 24 October 1950) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He started his professional career with West Bromwich Albion. His early progress led to a proposed transfer to Leeds United in November 1971, but this collapsed when a medical examination discovered a heart condition. Hartford instead moved to Manchester City in 1974. He helped City win the 1976 League Cup Final. After a brief spell with Nottingham Forest, Hartford moved to Everton in 1979 and then had a second spell with Manchester City. After playing for Fort Lauderdale Sun, Hartford joined Norwich City. His shot resulted in the only goal of the 1985 League Cup Final.

Hartford was also a regular in the Scotland national team, earning 50 caps between 1972 and 1982. He was selected for the Scotland squads in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups. Towards the end of his playing career, Hartford became a coach. He was the player/manager of Stockport County and Shrewsbury Town. Since retiring as a player, Hartford has worked in a variety of coaching and scouting roles.

Career

He first played for Drumchapel Amateurs in Glasgow, but began his professional career at West Bromwich Albion in 1967. During his time with West Brom, the team won the 1968 FA Cup Final (although he did not play in the final), were beaten FA Cup semi-finalists in 1969 and reached the League Cup final in 1970.^[11]

A proposed transfer to Don Revie's Leeds United in November 1971 was cancelled, when the Leeds doctor found that Hartford had a hole-in-the-heart condition during a pre-transfer medical examination.^[12][13] He was eventually transfer listed by then West Brom coach Don Howe, alongside favourites Len Cantello and Jeff Astle, in April 1974. Hartford moved on to Manchester City for £210,000, making his debut for City in a 4–0 victory against West Ham.^[14] He helped City win the 1976 League Cup Final.^[14][15]

At the beginning of the 1979–80 season he was transferred to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest (to replace Archie Gemmill) for £500,000, only to be sold on to Everton for £400,000 after just three games with Forest.^[14] In October 1981 John Bond brought him back to Manchester City for £375,000.^[14] His second stint with City was less successful, as he suffered an ankle injury and the club were relegated in 1983.^[14] Hartford left City in 1984 and signed for American club Fort Lauderdale Sun.^[14]

He returned to English football soon afterwards with Norwich City.^[14] In the 1985 League Cup Final, Hartford's shot was deflected by Sunderland's Gordon Chisholm for the only goal of the match.^[16] They were relegated in the same season.^[17][18]

He then had stints with Bolton Wanderers and Oldham Athletic, and then took up coaching/managerial roles with Stockport County and Shrewsbury Town.^[10]

International career

Hartford made his full international debut for Scotland on 26 April 1972, in a friendly match with Peru.^[19] Hartford made six appearances for Scotland during 1972, but was not selected again until October 1975.^[19]

He became a regular in the international side in 1977, as Scotland defeated Czechoslovakia and Wales to qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.^[20] Brian Glanville, in his frequently updated The Story of the World Cup, wrote "The Scots had an abundance of fine midfield players at a time when most other countries looked for them desperately; Bruce Rioch, Don Masson, Asa Hartford, Archie Gemmill, Lou Macari, Graeme Souness". Hartford played in all Scotland games in Argentina. His side lost 3–1 to Peru, drew 1–1 with Iran and defeated eventual runners-up Netherlands 3–2,^[20][21] which meant that Ally MacLeod's team exited the competition after the first round.

Hartford's international career came to an end after the 1982 World Cup, where he recorded his 50th and final cap for Scotland in the game against Brazil.^[22] This appearance secured Hartford a place on the national team's roll of honour, as the 8th player to make 50 appearances for Scotland.^[22][23] Hartford did not appear in any other matches at the 1982 World Cup, as Scotland were again eliminated after the group stage.^[22]

Coaching and managerial career

Hartford was player/manager at Stockport County (1987–89) and Shrewsbury Town (1990–91) before his retirement as a player.^[10] He subsequently joined ex-international teammates Kenny Dalglish (at Blackburn Rovers), Joe Jordan and Lou Macari (at Stoke City where he spent four matches as caretaker manager) in various coaching/managerial roles. He became assistant manager at Manchester City in 1995, working with Alan Ball.^[14] He was caretaker manager in September 1996, after Ball left, but he did not express any interest in becoming manager on a permanent basis.^[24] He stayed with City for several years as their reserve team coach, until Stuart Pearce brought in his own coaching staff in May 2005.^[25]

Hartford became a first team coach with Blackpool in December 2005,^[26] but left the club in May 2006. On 29 June 2007 it was announced that he had been appointed assistant manager at Macclesfield Town but both he and Ian Brightwell were sacked in February 2008 to be replaced by Keith Alexander. In April 2008 he was given a role with Accrington Stanley coaching the junior teams and the reserves, but was made redundant from this role in October 2011.^[27] He subsequently worked for Birmingham City as a scout.^[28]

Career statistics

As a player

• Sourced from Asa Hartford at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[A]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
West Bromwich Albion	1967–68	First Division	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
	1968–69	First Division	26	7	4	1	0	0	7	3	37	11
	1969–70	First Division	35	1	1	0	7	0	4	0	47	1
	1970–71	First Division	34	2	4	0	2	1	2	0	42	3
	1971–72	First Division	39	1	1	0	1	0	3	0	44	1
	1972–73	First Division	41	3	5	1	3	1	4	1	53	6
	1973–74	Second Division	33	3	4	0	2	0	0	0	39	3
	1974–75	Second Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	0
	Total		214	18	19	2	15	2	23	4	271	26
Manchester City	1974–75	First Division	30	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	32	2
	1975–76	First Division	39	9	2	1	9	2	3	0	53	12
	1976–77	First Division	40	4	4	0	1	0	2	0	47	5
	1977–78	First Division	37	4	2	0	5	0	2	0	46	4
	1978–79	First Division	39	3	3	0	5	0	8	2	55	5
	Total		185	22	12	1	21	2	15	2	233	27
Nottingham Forest	1979–80	First Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Everton	1979–80	First Division	35	1	5	1	3	0	0	0	43	2
	1980–81	First Division	39	5	6	0	3	0	0	0	48	5
	1981–82	First Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	Total		81	6	11	1	6	0	0	0	98	7
Manchester City	1981–82	First Division	30	3	2	0	4	1	0	0	36	4
	1982–83	First Division	38	3	3	1	4	0	0	0	45	4
	1983–84	Second Division	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	1
	Total		75	7	5	1	8	1	0	0	88	9
Norwich City	1984–85	First Division	28	2	4	0	8	3	0	0	40	5
	Total		28	2	4	0	8	3	0	0	40	5
Bolton Wanderers	1985–86	Third Division	46	5	1	0	4	1	7	1	58	7
	1986–87	Third Division	35	3	5	0	0	0	3	0	43	3
	Total		81	8	6	0	4	1	10	1	101	10
Stockport County	1987–88	Fourth Division	31	0	4	0	1	0	1	0	37	0
	1988–89	Fourth Division	14	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	15	0
	Total		45	0	4	0	1	0	2	0	52	0
Oldham Athletic	1988–89	Second Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	Total		7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Shrewsbury Town	1989–90	Third Division	17	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	20	0
	1990–91	Third Division	8	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	10	0
	Total		25	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	30	0
Career Total			744	63	62	5	66	9	51	7	923	84

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Anglo-Scottish Cup, FA Charity Shield, Football League Trophy, Football League play-offs Texaco Cup, UEFA Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Watney Cup.

As a manager

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Stockport County	12 June 1987	1 April 1989	93	24	34	35	025.8
Shrewsbury Town	1 January 1990	17 January 1991	55	16	19	20	029.1
Stoke City	10 September 1994	29 September 1994	4	3	0	1	075.0
Total[29]			152	43	53	56	028.3

Honours

Manchester City

• Football League Cup: 1975–76^[30]

Norwich City

• Football League Cup: 1984–85^[16]

Individual

• Scotland national football team roll of honour: 1982^[22][23]
• PFA Team of the Year: 1986–87 Third Division^[31]

See also

• List of footballers in England by number of league appearances
• List of men's footballers with the most official appearances
• List of Scotland national football team captains

Notes

1. Asa Hartford played in at least 5 official matches for Fort Lauderdale Sun in 1984 United Soccer League, in which he scored 1 goal.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

References

Specific

1. "Asa Hartford". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
3. "Two-time World Cup vet signs as Sun's playmakers". Newspaper.com. Sun Sentinel. 12 May 1984. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
4. "Sun gives roster some local flavor with former Miramar star Schwartz". Newspaper.com. Sun Sentinel. 13 May 1984. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
5. "Fort Lauderdale Sun". FunWhileItLasted.Net. 9 June 1984. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
6. "Fort Lauderdale Sun vs Houston Dynamos Game Notes, 9 June 1984" (PDF). FunWhileItLasted.Net. 9 June 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
7. "Fort Lauderdale Sun vs. Charlotte Gold Roster, 4 July 1984" (PDF). FunWhileItLasted.Net. 4 July 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
8. "Scotland U23 player Asa Hartford". FitbaStats. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
9. "Scotland U21 player Asa Hartford". FitbaStats. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
10. "ASA HARTFORD". LMA. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
11. "West Bromwich Albion's Asa Hartford (r) slide tackles Manchester City's Glyn Pardoe". Getty Images. 7 March 1970. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
12. "Tributes to doc from Leeds who kept Revie's United lads ticking over". Yorkshire Evening Post. 18 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
13. "The Asa Hartford affair". Mighty Leeds. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
14. "City heroes: Asa Hartford". Manchester Evening News. 12 August 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
15. "City 2 Newcastle United 1, 28 February 1976". Manchester City FC. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
16. Forsyth, Paul (2 March 2014). "Gordon Chisholm proud of Sunderland Wembley return". The Scotsman. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
17. "Birmingham wouldn't be the first team to win the League Cup and go down". Daily Mirror. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
18. Struthers, Greg (28 September 2003). "SportsFile: Caught in Time: Norwich win the League Cup, 1985". The Times. London. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
19. Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (5 July 2018). "Scotland – International Matches 1971-1975". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
20. Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (5 July 2018). "Scotland – International Matches 1976-1980". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
21. "Ally MacLeod" www.qosfc.com 13 December 2010
22. Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (18 January 2018). "Scotland - International Matches 1981-1985". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
23. "International Roll of Honour". Scottish Football Association. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
24. Nixon, Alan (3 September 1996). "Hartford has 'no desire' for City top job". The Independent. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
25. "Man City give Wigley coaching job". BBC Sport. 26 May 2005. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
26. Fudge, Simon. "Grayson takes on Asa". Sky Sports. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
27. Flanagan, Chris (20 October 2011). "Former Manchester City ace Hartford sad after Accrington Stanley redundancy". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
28. Evans, Gregg (8 April 2012). "Birmingham City: Blues to broaden their scouting network". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
29. "Asa Hartford". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
30. "City 2 Newcastle United 1, 28 February 1976". Manchester City FC. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
31. Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 146.

General

• Glanville, Brian – World Cup. The Story of the, Faber & Faber, London, 2005.

External links

• Asa Hartford at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk