Paul Harsley

Paul Harsley (born 29 May 1978) is an English former footballer who is now Head Coach of Manchester City EDS.

Paul Harsley

Harsley playing for North Ferriby United in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Paul Harsley[1]
Date of birth	(1978-05-29) 29 May 1978[1]
Place of birth	Scunthorpe, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Playing position(s)	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Manchester City EDS (Head Coach)
Youth career
000?–1996	Grimsby Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1997	Grimsby Town	0	(0)
1997–2001	Scunthorpe United	128	(5)
2001–2002	Halifax Town	45	(11)
2002–2004	Northampton Town	59	(2)
2004–2006	Macclesfield Town	107	(11)
2006–2008	Port Vale	73	(6)
2008–2010	Chesterfield	20	(1)
2009–2010	→ Darlington (loan)	3	(0)
2010	→ York City (loan)	9	(1)
2010–2012	North Ferriby United	56	(7)
Total		500	(44)
Teams managed
2018	Barnsley (caretaker)
2018–	Manchester City EDS
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He played as a midfielder from 1996 until 2012, and made 583 league and cup appearances, scoring 52 goals. He spent the majority of his career in the English Football League, though also had spells in the Conference Premier and Northern Premier League.

His professional footballing career began at Grimsby Town in 1996, though he switched to Scunthorpe United a year later, without having appeared for Grimsby. He spent four seasons with the club, racking up 128 league appearances, before moving to Halifax Town. In 2002, he transferred to Northampton Town, and after a couple of years he moved on again to Macclesfield Town. In 2006, he signed with Port Vale, yet again he stayed just two years, though did pick up a Player of the season award before signing with Chesterfield. In 2010, he left Chesterfield, having been largely unsuccessful, and spending much of his time on loan at Darlington and York City. He finished his career in non-League football with a two-year spell at North Ferriby United. In total he made 500 league and 83 cup appearances, scoring 52 goals. He was named as Player of the Year at Scunthorpe United (1999), Northampton Town (2003), Macclesfield Town (2005), and Port Vale (2008).

He coached at Scunthorpe United, Birmingham City and Barnsley, and was appointed Barnsley's caretaker-manager in February 2018.

Career

Grimsby Town

Born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, Harsley started his career at the Grimsby Town youth system as a trainee and signed a professional contract on 16 July 1996.[3] He moved to his hometown club Scunthorpe United 7 July 1997, having not appeared for Grimsby's first team.[3]

Scunthorpe United

He broke into Scunthorpe's first team on 20 September 1997, aged 18, in a 1–0 defeat at Barnet, replacing Alejandro Calvo García as a late substitute. His first season was quite successful, as he made fifteen appearances in all, scoring his first professional goal against Exeter City. His second season with the club was to prove far more prolific however. He made 42 appearances as his club won promotion via the Third Division play-off Final at the end of the 1998–99 season. The final itself took place at Wembley Stadium on his 21st birthday, where they defeated Leyton Orient 1–0. He was also given the club's Player of the Year award, the Ernie Storey Memorial Trophy.[4]

Harsley was an ever-present for Scunthorpe's Second Division season, though he was unable to help the club avoid relegation in 23rd place. He maintained his first team spot in 2000–01, but was released by the club at the end of the season,[5] subsequently joining Halifax Town on a free transfer on 1 July 2001.[3]

Halifax Town

He spent one season at Halifax; which proved to be highly successful on an individual level, with Harsley ending up as their top scorer with twelve goals from fifty games; however the team performed extremely poorly and they were relegated out of the English Football League, a full nine points below Bristol Rovers. Throughout the campaign he was linked with big money moves to First Division clubs,[6] but nothing came of the speculation.

Northampton Town

Unwilling to play in the Conference,[7] in June 2002 Harsley moved on to Northampton Town, again on a free transfer.[8] He was highly productive throughout the 2002–03 season, making 51 appearances in all competitions and picking up the club's Player of the Year award. However, he suffered his third relegation in four years, as Northampton dropped out of the Second Division in last place, 11 points from safety.

Macclesfield Town

Although he started the 2003–04 season at Northampton, on 13 February 2004 he moved to Third Division rivals Macclesfield Town.[3] He helped them to avoid relegation, before a signing a two-year contract in May 2004.[9] A successful season followed in 2004–05, when his club made the play-offs, finishing ahead of eighth place Darlington on goal difference. Despite ever-present Harsley scoring in the play-off semi-final, Macclesfield were knocked out by Lincoln City. At the end of the campaign he was handed the club's Player of the Year award.[10] The following season proved to be a disappointing one, with Macclesfield again fighting relegation. Harsley managed to make 45 league appearances, making 55 appearances in all competitions.

Port Vale

Harsley moved to League One Port Vale on a free transfer for the start of the 2006–07 season.[11][12] A quiet season for both club and player, he made a total of forty appearances. Vale were relegated in the 2007–08 season, and the club's misfortune on the pitch began to depress Harsley.[13] Though the season had its high points for Harsley as he was captain of the side and also player of the year.[14]

Chesterfield

At the end of the season he was out of contract,[15] and decided to move on after turning down a new deal at Vale Park and instead signed for Chesterfield.[16] He failed to impress in 2008–09, making less than 20 appearances all told. By February 2009 he was put on the transfer list by manager Lee Richardson.[17]

Harsley playing for York City in 2010

After starting the 2009–10 campaign just as poorly, he signed for Darlington on loan for three months on 26 November 2009, along with teammate Danny Hall.[18] He played just three games for the club. He joined Conference Premier side York City on loan until the end of the season in March 2010,[19] teaming up with his former Vale manager Martin Foyle. He made his first start in a 1–0 victory over Mansfield Town on 16 March,[20] and scored his first York goal with the opener in a 4–0 victory over Grays Athletic.[21] He finished the loan spell with nine appearances and one goal for York, helping them to a play-off position. Chesterfield announced that he would not be offered a new contract at the end of the season.[22]

North Ferriby United

Harsley trialled with Northern Premier League Premier Division team North Ferriby United in July 2010 and he signed for them in August.[23][24] He helped them to a play-off finish in 2010–11, though they lost out 2–0 to Colwyn Bay in the play-off semi-finals. He made 41 appearances in both league and cup games, before retiring in January 2012.[25]

Coaching career

Harsley was appointed as Centre of Excellence co-ordinator at Scunthorpe United in January 2011.[26] In August 2015 he began working with Steve Spooner at the Birmingham City Academy.[27] In October 2016, Harsley was appointed as Senior Professional Development Coach at Barnsley, with the responsibility of coaching the club's under-23 team.[28] On 6 February 2018, Harsley was named as caretaker-manager at Barnsley following Paul Heckingbottom's move to Leeds United.[29] He managed the South Yorkshire derby between the "Tykes" and Sheffield Wednesday four days later, leading the team to a 1–1 draw at Oakwell.[30] On 16 February, José Morais was named as Barnsley's new permanent manager.[31] On 12 June 2018, Harsley was appointed EDS manager at Manchester City.[32]

Career statistics

Playing statistics

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Scunthorpe United	1997–98[33]	Third Division	15	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	1
	1998–99[34]	Third Division	34	0	3	1	2	0	3[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]	0	42	1
	1999–2000[35]	Second Division	46	3	1	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	51	3
	2000–01[36]	Third Division	33	1	2	0	2	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	38	1
	Total		128	5	6	1	6	0	6	0	146	6
Halifax Town	2001–02[37]	Third Division	45	11	3	1	1	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	50	12
Northampton Town	2002–03[38]	Second Division	45	2	3	1	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	51	3
	2003–04[39]	Third Division	14	0	2	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	19	0
	Total		59	2	5	1	2	0	4	0	70	3
Macclesfield Town	2003–04[39]	Third Division	16	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	2
	2004–05[40]	League Two	46	3	3	0	1	0	5[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]	1[lower-alpha 2]	55	4
	2005–06[41]	League Two	45	6	2	0	2	0	6[lower-alpha 1]	1[lower-alpha 1]	55	7
	Total		107	11	5	0	3	0	11	2	126	13
Port Vale	2006–07[42]	League One	32	1	2	0	4	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	40	1
	2007–08[43]	League One	41	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	42	5
	Total		73	6	3	0	4	0	2	0	82	6
Chesterfield	2008–09[44]	League Two	17	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	19	1
	2009–10[45]	League Two	3	0	0	0	1	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	5	0
	Total		20	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	24	1
Darlington (loan)	2009–10[45]	League Two	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
York City (loan)	2009–10[45]	Conference Premier	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
North Ferriby United	2010–11[25]	Northern Premier Division	32	4	4	0	0	0	5	2	41	6
	2011–12[46]	Northern Premier Division	24	3	2	0	0	0	6	1	32	4
	Total		56	7	6	0	0	0	11	3	73	10
Career total			500	44	29	3	18	0	36	5	583	52

1. Appearance/s and goal/s in the EFL Trophy.
2. Appearance/s and goal/s in the play-offs.

Managerial statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Barnsley (caretaker)	6 February 2018	16 February 2018	1	0	1	0	000.0
Total			1	0	1	0	000.0	—

Honours

Scunthorpe United

• Football League Third Division play-off winner: 1999

Individual

• Scunthorpe United F.C. Player of the Year winner: 1999[4]
• Northampton Town F.C. Player of the Year winner: 2003
• Macclesfield Town F.C. Player of the Year winner: 2005[10]
• Port Vale F.C. Player of the Year winner: 2008[14]

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 272. ISBN 1-85291-665-6.
2. "Profiles". Chesterfield F.C. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
3. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2007). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007–08. Mainstream Publishing. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3.
4. "Vote For Your Player of the Season 2015/16". scunthorpe-united.co.uk. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
5. "Seven to leave Scunthorpe". BBC Sport. 19 May 2001. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
6. "No offers for Harlsey". BBC Sport. 27 February 2002. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
7. "Harsley to exit Shay". BBC Sport. 15 April 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
8. "Northampton sign Harsley". BBC Sport. 12 June 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
9. "Harsley stays at Moss Rose". BBC Sport. 18 May 2004. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
10. "Player of the Year". mtfc.co.uk. 9 May 2005. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
11. "Harsley decides on Vale Park move". BBC Sport. 30 May 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
12. "Harsley happy with Port Vale move". BBC Sport. 31 May 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
13. "Vale captain Harsley feels 'down'". BBC Sport. 7 February 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
14. "Player of the Year". port-vale.co.uk. 30 April 2008. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
15. "Harsley yet to decide Vale future". BBC Sport. 5 May 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
16. "Spireites agree deal for Harsley". BBC Sport. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
17. "Richardson open to offers for duo". BBC Sport. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
18. "Darlington seal triple loan swoop". BBC Sport. 26 November 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
19. "York City sign Chesterfield man Paul Harsley". BBC Sport. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
20. "Mansfield 0–1 York". BBC Sport. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
21. "Grays Athletic 0–4 York City". BBC Sport. 30 March 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
22. "John Sheridan shapes Spireites squad". BBC Sport. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
23. "Ferriby travel to Barton for latest warm-up". Find Articles (taken from Hull Daily Mail). 27 July 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
24. "Pressure is on for Ferriby's Allison". Hull Daily Mail. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
25. "2010–11". North Ferriby United A.F.C. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
26. "An 'Excellent Chance' for Harsley". scunthorpe-united.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
27. Dick, Brian (26 August 2015). "Paul Harsley to join Blues academy set up from Scunthorpe United". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
28. "Reds Strengthen Coaching Set-Up". barnsleyfc.co.uk. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
29. "Paul Heckingbottom leaves Barnsley for Elland Road job". 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
30. "Barnsley 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday". BBC Sport. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
31. "Jose Morais: Barnsley appoint Portuguese as head coach". BBC Sport. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
32. Clayton, David. "Paul Harsley appointed EDS manager". Manchester City F.C. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
33. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
34. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
35. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
36. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
37. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
38. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
39. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
40. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
41. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
42. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
43. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
44. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
45. "Games played by Paul Harsley in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
46. "Player stats". North Ferriby United A.F.C. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2011.

External links

• Paul Harsley at Soccerbase