Harold Payne Hardman (4 April 1882 – 9 June 1965) was an English football player and chairman.

Football career

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Hardman was discovered by

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 ...

as a schoolboy and thrown into the first team during their season in exile from the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

in 1899–1900. He made his League debut on 8 September 1900, in a home draw against Gainsborough Trinity, the first competitive game played at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road ground. He became almost an ever-present for the club over the next three years. An outside-left, Hardman had the ability to switch flanks and sometimes played on the right wing. He possessed speed and a knack for trickery, and although not a regular goalscorer himself, he provided the final pass for many of the goals scored by Bob Birkett and Jack Parkinson. Blackpool, however, as a whole, were a team struggling in the Second Division, and they found it too difficult to hold on to him. In 1903, he signed for Everton for a fee of £100. He played for the Toffees in the 1906 and 1907 FA Cup Finals before joining

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in 1908. Hardman later played for Bradford City, during their first two seasons in Division One, and Stoke City.

International career

Hardman made four appearances for the full England team, all while with Everton, between 1905 and 1908, scoring once in a 1–0 win over

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on 16 February 1907. He also earned 7 caps for England amateurs, netting three goals, including two in an 8–1 win over the

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 ...

. He was also a member of the gold medal-winning British team at the 1908 Summer Olympics, starting in all three games including the final where they beat

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

2–0.

Later years and death

After his playing days ended, he became a well-known administrator and, later, director of

. He became chairman of the club in 1951 after the death of James W. Gibson, and was at the helm at the time of the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958, which claimed the lives of 23 people, including eight players, three non-playing staff, and ended the careers of two other players due to injury. He oversaw United's three league title glories of the 1950s as well as their early foray into the European Cup from 1956 to 1958. Hardman also saw Manchester United win the FA Cup in 1963 and another league championship in 1964–65, before his death in June 1965 at the age of 83. He was succeeded as chairman by Louis Edwards.

Outside football

In 1908, Hardman became a solicitor in Manchester.

Career statistics

Club

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International

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References

External links

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England player profile

Everton profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardman, Harold 1882 births 1965 deaths People from Newton Heath English men's footballers England men's amateur international footballers Blackpool F.C. players Everton F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players Footballers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Great Britain English Olympic competitors Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain England men's international footballers Manchester United F.C. directors and chairmen Olympic medalists in football English Football League representative players Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Men's association football outside forwards