Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

Mick Harford's batting average for QPR right now is hardly inspiring, though the two fixtures he was dealt to kick off with were tricky to say the least. A true test of his potential as a manager and of his credentials to lead QPR on a regular basis arrives tomorrow with the visit of Scunthorpe, a newly-promoted side and one Rangers would surely expect to beat at their own ground.

I previously had a look back at Harford's playing days in an attempt to uncover some clues as to his likely managerial style, so it would seem only fitting to consider his actual experience as a manager as well. There are few guarantees in football (the least being that he will actually remain in the job until the end of this season), but his previous spells in the dug-out should provide some indication of what QPR's players and supporters can expect.

Life As A Manager

1998 - Ends his playing days with Wimbledon and goes behind the scenes to work as a coach.

2001 - Joins his former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear at Luton Town to act as his assistant following their relegation to the bottom division.

2001/2 - The pair quickly turn the Hatters' fortunes around and they are promoted at the first attempt, finishing second behind Plymouth Argyle and marking the club's first promotion in 20 years.

2002/3 - Season of consolidation in Division Two (now League One) sees Luton finish ninth in the table.

Summer 2003 - Luton's chairman Mike Watson-Challis steps down in favour of a mystery consortium, headed by businessman John Gurney (pictured on the right below with Mike Newell).


Within two days, both Kinnear and Harford are sacked, leading to supporter demonstrations to have them reinstated. Harford is offered his job back but refuses to work under the new ownership. Gurney's reign quickly comes to an end and Harford returns as Director of Football and then first-team coach alongside new manager Mike Newell.

2003/4 - Newell and Harford guide Luton to a respectable finish of tenth after their farcical start to the season.

November 2004 - With Luton flying high in League One, Harford surprisingly decides to team up once again with Joe Kinnear (pictured below), then manager of Nottingham Forest, as his assistant. Forest are attempting to stave off relegation.


16 December 2004 - Kinnear is sacked with Forest 22nd in the Championship. Harford steps in as caretaker manager, lasting six games (two wins, one draw) before Gary Megson becomes the club's permanent manager.

April 2005 - Harford is appointed manager of Rotherham United, who have already been relegated from the Championship. Stays in the job until December but is sacked off the back of a 17 game run without a victory. In fact, in 30 games with the club, Harford manages just five wins.

Summer 2006 - Joins his former teammate Geraint Williams at Colchester United to become their assistant manager.

June 2007 - Becomes assistant manager at QPR behind John Gregory (pictured below).


1st October 2007 - Gregory is sacked following a 5-1 thrashing at West Brom which left the R's at the bottom of the Championship. Harford again acts as caretaker lasting five games before the appointment of Luigi De Canio leads to his exit.

January 2008 - Returns to Luton as manager. The club is rocked by financial difficulties, subject to a transfer embargo and has sold a number of its key players. The club finishes the season bottom of League One.


2008/9 - Luton's fortunes go from bad to worse when they are docked 30 points in the summer of 2008 because of financial irregularities, virtually confirming a second consecutive relegation. Harford stays on at the club but is forced to transfer list his entire squad to reduce the club's wage bill.

April 2009 - Still 12 points adrift of safety, Harford leads Luton to the Football League Trophy final at Wembley where they beat Scunthorpe United 3-2 (aet) in front of 40,000 of their own supporters.


Just one week later though, they succumb to the inevitable and are relegated to the Conference.

1 October 2009 - After a disappointing start to non-league life, Harford and Luton agree to part ways.

17 December 2009 - Paul Hart is appointed manager of QPR with Harford as his assistant.

15 January 2010 - Hart leaves QPR after just five games, leaving Harford to once again step into the driving seat....

Any conclusions?

1 - Time for a bit of wheeler-dealing. Despite his own personal wealth and the even greater fortunes of his financial partners at QPR, Flavio Briatore has made it clear that he will not spend exorbitant transfer fees to bring players to his club. As a result, for all the public acceptance of QPR as a money-bags institution, any manager of Rangers is likely to have to content himself with loan signings, free transfers or the odd £2 to £3 million acquisition if lucky.

Therefore, oddly, Harford's experience of lower league football, of getting by on very tight budgets (or under the constraints of an administrator as was the case at Luton) could be beneficial to QPR. The club could well do with a lower wage bill in general and Harford should have no qualms with haggling any new players onto reasonable contracts.

Likewise, ten years spent across the lower divisions must have brought with it a wealth of contacts and knowledge which QPR can utilise and if competing with Premiership clubs for transfers is out of the question, their new manager might be able to unearth a few lower league gems for them.

He had to do a great deal of rebuilding and scouting during his time managing Luton, when the whole playing staff was put on the transfer list, so will be more than willing to hunt around to strengthen the Rangers squad.

At the same time, it is far from clear whether the board will actually give him any input into player acquisition, with Gianni Paladini tending to monopolise this side of the club's business.

2 - Flavio Briatore has nothing on John Gurney. Any new manager of QPR will be rightly apprehensive of what treatment to expect from their immediate superiors. With the previous incumbent lasting just five games and with Flavio Briatore known for his hands-on approach to business (and by extension, football), those entering the Manager's Office at Loftus Road will be tempted to leave their earthly possessions boxed up, at least for a few weeks.

Harford should be less apprehensive than most though, because he has already dealt with and survived a businessman who makes Briatore look saintly. As mentioned above, John Gurney went on a whirlwind trail of destruction in his attempt to claw control of Luton Town which included sacking Kinnear and Harford within two days of taking over, failing to let the Luton supporters know anything about the consortium he was heading and most unbelievably, organising a X-Factor-style popular vote to decide on a new manager.

When Harford returned to the club two years ago, they faced points penalties, administration and a diminished playing squad. QPR's problems are numerous, but they pale in comparison with some of the tribulations Harford has weathered at Luton so he should not be fazed in the months (weeks? days?) ahead.

3 - Could get QPR's strikers firing. Tuesday night's game was far from emblematic of a manager capable of getting QPR scoring on all fronts, but Harford's experience as a player and manager suggests he should know a thing or two about strikers. As a player himself, he was the text-book sturdy, work-horse, front-line battler, on hand to nick a goal but also to work a defence to the teeth. He scored his goals in the margins, not blessed with the pace or an abundance of skill to simply outplay his opponents.

That experience should be passed onto QPR's misfiring strikers and could benefit the one player capable, up until now, of banging the goals in this season, Jay Simpson.

4 - Contacts and friendships are important to him. The managerial story outlined above has a number of recurring characters, demonstrating that Harford operates best when working with people he knows and trusts. His loyalty to Luton Town was even bested at one point by his loyalty to Joe Kinnear who he followed to Nottingham Forest and his relief and happiness at being able to bring in his own number two Tony Coton at QPR shows that he needs that type of close working relationship. If they can gel together, it could help Rangers to get out of their current predicament.

Taking the Forest game as a marker, he will clearly have his work cut out to fashion a winning side right now. But there is enough experience since he hung up his boots to suggest he could at least make a decent stab of salvaging QPR's season.