Mick Harford: Hatters Legend #1
- s5404301
- Nov 24, 2023
- 2 min read
Mick Harford and Luton Town is a platonic love story which just keeps on giving.
In the 2008/09 season, Luton Town were relegated out of the Fotball League and into Non-League Football. A -30 point deduction from the FA and Football League buried the side at the bottom of the pyramid and flushed them out.
'There wasn't many who had the belief we would get out of it.
"I had the belief."
Mick Harford was in charge as the final whistle went on their football league campaign; from that moment they were no longer classed as apart of the classic 92 - which they had been so integral to in previous seasons.
To put it into perspective - Luton Town helped form the Premier League, yet never had the chance to play in it; they're a club which beat Arsenal at the old Wembley in the, then, Little Woods Cup final and then got to the final, again, in the successive year. This is a club which is apart of history.
"I will never forget in the dressing room after the game; as a manger sometimes you don't know what to say. You're thinking as you walk off the pitch how you're going to address the team, the players, the staff and it was a really sad occassion."
Harford was saddened by reminisicing on such an occasion, despite the event being more than a decade ago. It sits, unpleasantly, in his Football CV and presents itself as an unforgiving tale.
"I felt responsible - i was the manager albeit a thirty point deduction"
With the side in the dressing room after the final game, Harford only had one thing on his mind to lift spirits.
Redemption and the start of a journey which encapsulated the Footballing world.
"Have a look at the clock boys, it's ten to five and that's history now. it's all over. We are a new club. We will start again. We will live and breathe and go on from here.
"This is a start of a new era for the Football club."
Having played and coached, Harford now works on the Luton board as Chief of Recruitment and is adored by fans who still chant his name in the stands.
A hero on and off the pitch who, despite having been born and bred in the north in Sunderland, has found home and comfort with southbound Luton.
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