Richard Asa Hartford (born 24 October 1950) is a Scottish former
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and coach. He started his professional career with
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
. His early progress led to a proposed transfer to
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system.
Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
in November 1971, but this collapsed when a medical examination discovered a heart condition. Hartford instead moved to
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
in 1974. He helped City win the
1976 League Cup Final. After a brief spell with
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football.
Founde ...
, Hartford moved to
Everton in 1979 and then had a second spell with
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
. After playing for
Fort Lauderdale Sun, Hartford joined
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
. 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
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
and
1982
Events
January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
World Cups. Towards the end of his playing career, Hartford became a coach. He was the
player/manager of
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...
and
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...
. Since retiring as a player, Hartford has worked in a variety of coaching and scouting roles.
Club career
Hartford first played for
Drumchapel Amateurs in Glasgow, but began his professional career at
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
in 1967. During his time with West Brom, the team won the
1968 FA Cup Final
The 1968 FA Cup final was the 87th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 18 May 1968 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Bromwich Albion and Everton.
West Brom won 1–0 after extra time. Jeff Astle scored the winning goal, thus ...
(although he did not play in the final), were beaten FA Cup semi-finalists in
1969
1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...
and reached the
League Cup final in
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
.
A proposed transfer to
Don Revie
Donald George Revie (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an English footballer and manager. He is best known for managing Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, winning the Football League First Division twice and the FA Cup once, before being the Eng ...
's
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system.
Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
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. He was eventually transfer listed by then West Brom coach
Don Howe
Donald Howe (12 October 1935 – 23 December 2015) was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his pla ...
, alongside favourites
Len Cantello and
Jeff Astle
Jeffrey Astle (13 May 1942 – 19 January 2002) was an English professional footballer who played the majority of his career as a centre-forward for West Bromwich Albion. Nicknamed "the King" by the club's fans, he played 361 games for them an ...
, in April 1974. Hartford moved on to
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
for £210,000, making his debut for City in a 4–0 victory against
West Ham
West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross.
The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...
.
He helped City win the
1976 League Cup Final.
At the beginning of the 1979–80 season he was transferred to
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...
's
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football.
Founde ...
(to replace
Archie Gemmill
Archibald Gemmill (born 24 March 1947) is a Scottish former footballer. During his career, he won the European Cup and three English league titles, and captained his national side.
Gemmill scored the third Scotland goal in a 3–2 win again ...
) for £500,000, only to be sold on to
Everton for £400,000 after just three games with Forest.
In October 1981
John Bond took him back to Manchester City for £375,000.
His second stint with City was less successful, as he suffered an ankle injury and the club were relegated in 1983.
Hartford left City in 1984 and signed for American club
Fort Lauderdale Sun.
He returned to English football soon afterwards with
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
.
In the
1985 League Cup Final, Hartford's shot was deflected by Sunderland's
Gordon Chisholm
Gordon William Chisholm (born 8 April 1960 in Glasgow) is a Scottish professional football former player and manager. Chisholm played as a central defender for Sunderland, Hibernian, Dundee and Partick Thistle.
After retiring as a player, Chis ...
for the only goal of the match.
They were relegated in the same season.
He then had stints with
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...
and
Oldham Athletic
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...
, and then took up coaching/managerial roles with
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...
and
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...
.
International career
Hartford made his full international debut for
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
on 26 April 1972, in a
friendly match
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...
with
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
.
Hartford made six appearances for Scotland during 1972, but was not selected again until October 1975.
He became a regular in the international side in 1977, as Scotland defeated
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
to qualify for the
1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Brian Glanville
Brian Lester Glanville (24 September 1931 – 16 May 2025) was an English football writer and novelist. He was described by ''The Times'' as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation" ...
, 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
Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a British football manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the Danish Superliga in 2008.
As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in ...
,
Don Masson, Asa Hartford, Archie Gemmill,
Lou Macari
Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenn ...
,
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit.
A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...
". Hartford played in all Scotland games in Argentina. His side lost 3–1 to Peru, drew 1–1 with
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and defeated eventual runners-up
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
3–2,
which meant that
Ally MacLeod
Alistair Reid MacLeod (26 February 1931 – 1 February 2004) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He is perhaps best known for his time as the Scotland national football team manager, including their appearance at the 1978 ...
's team exited the competition after the first round.
Hartford's international career came to an end after the
1982 World Cup
The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in th ...
, where he recorded his 50th and final cap for Scotland in the game against
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
.
This appearance secured Hartford a place on the national team's
roll of honour, as the 8th player to make 50 appearances for Scotland.
Hartford did not appear in any other matches at the 1982 World Cup, as Scotland were again eliminated after the group stage.
Coaching and managerial career
Hartford was
player/manager at
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...
(1987–89) and
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...
(1990–91) before his retirement as a player.
He subsequently joined ex-international teammates
Kenny Dalglish
Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...
(at
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
),
Joe Jordan and
Lou Macari
Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenn ...
(at
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...
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.
He was caretaker manager in September 1996, after Ball left, but he did not express any interest in becoming manager on a permanent basis. He stayed with City for several years as their reserve team coach, until
Stuart Pearce
Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play.
...
brought in his own coaching staff in May 2005.
Hartford became a first team coach with
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
in December 2005, 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
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...
coaching the junior teams and the reserves, but was made redundant from this role in October 2011. He subsequently worked for
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...
as a scout.
Career statistics
As a player
*Sourced from
:A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the
Anglo-Italian Cup
The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition.
The competition was ...
,
Anglo-Scottish Cup
The Anglo-Scottish Cup was a tournament arranged for teams in the English and Scottish football leagues during the summer for several years during the 1970s. It was created in 1975 as a new incarnation of the Texaco Cup, with a similar format ...
,
FA Charity Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...
,
Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...
,
Football League play-offs
The English Football League (EFL) play-offs are a series of play-offs, play-off matches contested by four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic Promotion and relegation, promotion places in the second, third and four ...
Texaco Cup
The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions.
It w ...
,
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
,
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...
,
Watney Cup
The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s.
It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored the ...
.
As a manager
Honours
Manchester City
*
Football League Cup
The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England.
Orga ...
:
1975–76
Norwich City
*Football League Cup:
1984–85
Individual
*
Scotland national football team roll of honour: 1982
*
PFA Team of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...
:
1986–87 Third Division
See also
*
List of footballers in England by number of league appearances
The following is a list of the 924 footballers who have made at least 500 domestic league appearances in English league football. This includes the appearances and goals of current and former players in the Premier League and English Football Lea ...
*
List of men's footballers with the most official appearances
In association football, 51 players have played at least 1,000 official matches at all age levels. Regarding B teams and reserve teams, appearances for such teams are only included if made in the primary football pyramid and not in reserve divi ...
*
List of Scotland national football team captains
This article lists all the captain (association football), captains of the men's Scotland national football team. As of 9 June 2025, Scotland have played 842 officially recognised international matches and have had 156 different team captains. An ...
Notes
References
; Specific
; General
*Glanville, Brian – World Cup. The Story of the, Faber & Faber, London, 2005.
External links
*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartford, Asa
1950 births
Living people
Footballers from Clydebank
Scottish men's footballers
Scotland men's international footballers
Men's association football midfielders
West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Everton F.C. players
Norwich City F.C. players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players
Shrewsbury Town F.C. managers
Fort Lauderdale Sun players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff
Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff
Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
English Football League players
People with congenital heart defects
Scottish expatriate men's footballers
United Soccer League (1984–85) players
English Football League managers
Drumchapel Amateur F.C. players
Scotland men's under-21 international footballers
Scotland men's under-23 international footballers
Manchester City F.C. non-playing staff
Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States
Scottish football managers
Association football coaches