Joe Harvey

Joe Harvey

Personal information
Full name	Joseph Harvey
Date of birth	(1918-06-11)11 June 1918
Place of birth	Edlington, Doncaster, England
Date of death
Position(s)	Half back
Youth career
	Edlington Rangers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1936	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0	(0)
1936–1938	Bournemouth	1	(0)
1939–1945	Bradford City	0	(0)
1945–1953	Newcastle United	224	(12)
Managerial career
1955–1956	Barrow
1956–1958	Workington
1962–1975	Newcastle United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseph "Joe" Harvey (11 June 1918 – 24 February 1989) was an English football player and later manager. He spent much of his career at Newcastle United; he was the club's longest serving captain, manager, and, as of the 2014–15 season, the last to win a major trophy.

Playing career

Newcastle United

He quickly established himself in Newcastle's youthful side and after an impressive debut against Barnsley was made captain of the side. Before playing for Newcastle Harvey was an established inside forward, at Newcastle he began to settle in the half-back position. At the end of his first season with the club he was demobbed. Partly thanks to his time as a sergeant, he was an authoritative figure amongst the Newcastle players who had the utmost respect for him. However, his time at the club was not without controversy. In the 1946–47 he was memorably suspended by the club's directors, along with team mate Len Shackleton, after going on strike against the quality of accommodation the club had provided the team. Both players were forced to make a public apology for their actions. Harvey was also believed to have been involved in the illegal selling of tickets for the 1952 FA Cup Final, although he was never charged for this.

Despite the controversy he was still a popular player amongst the supporters because of his attitude and displays on the pitch. In the 1947–48 he was a big part of the team that gained promotion to the First Division, only missing five games throughout the whole campaign. He captained the team to two successive FA Cup victories in 1951 and 1952. He retired from playing on 1 May 1953 at the age of 34, despite still being a first-team regular. His final game was a 1–0 win over Aston Villa. However his involvement in football and Newcastle was far from over as he worked towards becoming a coach. He began attending coaching sessions set up by Walter Winterbottom soon after retiring from playing. These sessions helped him to continue working at Newcastle as a trainer for two years. During this time he watched from the sidelines as the club won the FA Cup for the third time in a five-year period. In 1954 he took charge of Northern League club Crook Town who had reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup and took intensive training sessions in readiness for their final against local rivals Bishop Auckland, at the time considered the top amateur side in the country. after a 2-2 draw at Wembley before 100,000 fans and another 2-2 draw at St. James' Park, Newcastle before 52,000 Crook finally emerged triumphant 1-0 at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough in front of a crowd of 39,000. The club felt that Harvey's coaching sessions had made all the difference.

Management career

Wanting to find his way into top-level management, Harvey took control of struggling Barrow. Keeping the club in the league proved near impossible; the squad consisted of just five players upon his appointment. Consequently Harvey had to apply for re-election by goal average only in 1955–56. He soon left Barrow and was appointed manager of Workington in 1956, where he initially struggled too, but Harvey's influence gradually saw the Workington nearing promotion. He applied for the vacant manager's job at his beloved Newcastle United in 1958, but lost out to Charlie Mitten. The position became available again in 1962 and this time Harvey was successful in his application.

Newcastle United

Harvey was appointed manager of Newcastle United in 1961.

In 1968–69 he won the Fairs Cup with Newcastle.

The last player Harvey signed at this time was John Tudor who was signed for a bargain £888 from Sheffield United and he proved to be an outstanding strike partner for Macdonald. With the new look side In place, Newcastle finished 11th In 1971–72,for 1972–1973 Harvey again used Newcastle's excellent youth system and brought through young fullbacks Alan Kennedy and Irving Nattrass,Newcastle Improved and finished 8th, just missing out on qualifying for the UEFA Cup. On a sad note Tony Green was forced to retire at just 26 because of constant knee Injuries, Harvey used the compensation money Newcastle got to sign his replacement Terry McDermott from Bury.1973–74 was a big season for Newcastle United,the new attacking team put together by Harvey was being tipped to take one of the major honours come the season's end. By November Newcastle were 2nd In the league, but they fell away to finish 15th,In the League cup they were knocked out In Round 3,so It was down to the FA Cup.Hendon were first up In Round three and a shock 2–2 draw at home meant that Newcastle had to go through a replay at Vicarage Road to see off the Non League side 3–0.Scunthorpe United were next up In Round four, and another shock 1–1 draw at St James' meant another replay against lower league opposition. Macdonald scored twice In the replay to crush Scunthorpe's hopes In a 3–0 win, Round Five saw a difficult away draw to West Brom, on a quagmire of a pitch and in front of the TV Cameras, Newcastle were majestic winning 3–0 with Macdonald scoring again, Burnley at Hillsborough In the semi final, Macdonald scored two and Newcastle won 2–0, Harvey would sign Burnley defender Geoff Nulty for the next season after impressing In this game. Newcastle United were through to their first FA Cup final since 1955, where they would play Bill Shankly's Liverpool team. Newcastle had a poor build up to final with preparations not going to plan, the tracksuit tops the players were meant to be wearing did not turn up, and they had to wear an unkind looking purple outfit as they walked out at Wembley Stadium.Malcolm Macdonald was the key man for Newcastle, he had scored In every round and scored a total of 8 goals In the Competition. Liverpool played well Newcastle did not, they coasted to a 3–0 win with Kevin Keegan scoring twice. It was the end of an era for Harvey, the next season he signed Mickey Burns and paid Sheffield Wednesday a club record £200,000 for Tommy Craig,but Newcastle could only finish a low 15th,despite getting some kind of revenge on Liverpool,beating them 4–1 at St James' Park.

He resigned after pressure from supporters at the end of the 1974/75 season

Joe did come back and help out as manager for Newcastle United for a few days in August 1980, whilst Newcastle were in their third year in the old division 2, and Bill McGarry had just been fired. Joe took control, and is given a credit for steering Newcastle United to two wins and a draw. He then saw a friend of his, Arthur Cox be appointed, who would later go on to sign Kevin Keegan and get Newcastle back into the top league again. In April, 2014 a Joe Harvey Memorial Plaque measuring 5 ft x 3 ft in solid bronze will be erected on the perimeter wall of the Gallowgate End at St. James' Park. The Plaque was funded by the Fairs Club, founded by Bill Gibbs.

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Honours

As a player

Newcastle United

• FA Cup winner: 1951, 1952

As a manager

Newcastle United

• 2nd Division winner: 1965
• Fairs Cup winner: 1969

External links

• Profile on Toonarama at the Wayback Machine (archived December 14, 2006).