“I went down to West Brom around Christmastime and  while my mate was taken on, I wasn’t. So I went back home and returned for the Easter trials in 1966 and this time I was offered a contract. I remember I had to borrow a pair of Adidas boots from a guy who lived across the road for that trial because I didn’t have a decent pair of my own and we didn’t have the money to get any. After the trial, I had to give them back!

“Looking back, as a family, we were fairly poor, but you don’t really know you are poor as a kid, do you? We never had any holidays, just the odd day out every now and then, so this was a real opportunity. I knew I wanted to play football,  and I wanted to play in England if I had the choice, so West Brom was perfect for me.

“It was 300 miles from home, and I’d never been away from my family before, but it was what I wanted to do so my parents were supportive and off I went. There were a few hiccups along the way. The digs me and my mate were in near Handsworth Wood were not the best and after a short while,  we decided we’d had enough and got a train home – that was quite early on – but both our dads threatened to kick our backsides if we didn’t go back! So we did. We moved to digs in Smethwick and things started to happen for me.”

Rising Star

Asa established himself in a very good West Brom side who were particularly good in domestic cup competitions, and was in the starting XI in the 1970 League Cup final against City at Wembley where, aged only 19, he gave a mature and impressive display during a 2-1 loss to the Blues.

Leeds were a powerful force in the late 1960s and early 70s – a tough, uncompromising team of winners, bonded by their loyalty to Revie. With several top Scottish internationals at the club, it was a dream move for the then 21-year-old Hartford with the Yorkshire side prepared to pay just shy of the British transfer record for his services.

But Asa Hartford was about to make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

“When Leeds came in for me, they had been a major force in English football for several years and one of the best in Europe,” he recalled.

"Leeds had a wonderful side with players such as Eddie Gray, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner, Allan Clarke, Johnny Giles, and Peter Lorimer and I’d been wondering if they were thinking of playing me in goals because I couldn’t see where I fitted in! 

“They wanted to pay nearly £200,000 for me and everything looked like it was going to happen. I went to see Don Revie at Elland Road on the Wednesday, then went back to West Brom to pack a bag  and get my boots on the Thursday and returned to Leeds later that evening. I trained with Leeds on the Friday morning ahead of my medical – which was all the wrong way around, of course. But after I had what I thought would be a straightforward medical, I was informed I’d failed it due to a congenital heart condition.

“Revie was crying when he told me and said he’d never heard anything like it and that I’d probably need an operation to end up living the normal lifespan of a man. I was like, ‘oh, right…’

“He offered to get me a driver to take me back to West Brom and I said that I’d be fine. As I got onto the M6, the one o’clock news came on the radio and the story of my transfer falling through to Leeds – and the reasons behind it – had made the headlines. I had to pull off at the next services to go and try and phone my mum and dad to let them know I was OK, but I couldn’t get through because the press were trying to call them as well.

“I was puzzled, because my coach at West Brom was Don Howe and he had us running here there and everywhere – we were one of the fittest teams in England and I was in the best shape I’d ever been in, so to be told there was a problem with my heart was terrible.

“I went to see a cardiologist the following Monday in Birmingham, and he told me that, in  his opinion, I’d be fine. Surgeons usually err on the side of caution, but he examined me, did some tests and procedures in hospital and said he felt I’d be fine to continue.

“I went back to training at West Brom and they sort of said that they’d probably end up building a stand around me because I would be staying there all my career and nobody would buy me because of this condition.

“It was odd. I’d be lying down, listening to my heartbeat and thinking it sounded normal to me, but was it? Eventually, I just got on with it and got on with my career.”

Less than three years later, Manchester City had identified Hartford as a player who could become a key component in regenerating the ageing team manager Tony Book had inherited.

City were prepared to pay slightly more than Leeds had just three years before, and at £210,000, Hartford had proved the medical professionals wrong by flourishing at The Hawthorns and a full Scotland international.

“One of the directors at City was called Sidney Rose and he was a surgeon, but I signed when he’d gone on holiday, and I wondered if that was more than coincidental!” joked Asa.

“Maybe they waited for him to go away before I was signed – chief scout  Ken Barnes had been to watch me a few times, recommended me and I joined Tony Book’s City in April 1974. They knew what they were signing and at the medical, they knew I had a heart defect, but I passed and signed the contract and that gave me a lot more confidence.

"The City fans took to me pretty quickly because if you give a 100% every game, they’ll go with you and that’s how I was – I gave my all every time I played.”

With Colin Bell reaching the latter stages of his career, did Asa believe he’d been signed to one day fill the boots of the man they called the ‘King of the Kippax’?

“I never thought that, no,” he said. “It was just great to play with him. Colin was a wonderful footballer; Tommy Booth was also dropping into midfield at that time, and we had quality all over the park. It was ironic that probably my best ever game for City was the night Colin suffered that terrible knee injury against United in November 1975.

“We had Kenny Clements, Willie Donachie, Peter Barnes and Gary Owen, there was a great crop of young talent coming through and I remember Willie’s wife once asking – after a game I’d played for West Brom against City – how we could talk to each other so causally after trying to kick limps out of each other for 90 minutes! Willie and I became good friends and used to room together at away games.”

Hartford’s influence grew quickly and in 1976/77, the Blues missed out on the league title by one point to an all-conquering Liverpool team.

“We were really close, but Liverpool were a great side back then,” he said. “I think there was a game towards the end of the season that really cost us – maybe the 4-0 loss at Derby County – and it sort of scuppered us because it was so tight at the top, but we finished where we deserved to finish, and the table doesn’t lie. We were a good side with players who all got along well, and we were close again the following year, finishing fourth.

“Then Malcolm Allison came back and a lot of the lads who had played under him previously – Joe Corrigan,, Alan Oakes and Willie - had been really looking forward to his return, but they told me later he had changed. He wanted to build a team himself and probably tried to do it too quickly and replaced internationals with players who weren’t as good. It was strange and I ended up leaving because Malcolm just didn’t fancy me as a player - and that was about all there was to it.”

Three Strikes and Out!

City’s loss was Nottingham Forest’s gain, with the enigmatic Brian Clough identifying the Scot as the perfect replacement for another Tartan tour-de-force, Archie Gemmill.

“I’d met Cloughie before I actually signed when I went to Mottram Hall with Tony Book. I then signed for Forest, but didn’t see him or Peter Taylor again until pre-season training started,” said Hartford.

“I played all the pre-season friendlies and things seemed to be going well. He called me in his office one time and told me to watch how other midfielders played like John McGovern. He was obviously trying to keep me grounded.

“The season started, we won all three of our league games and when the table was published for the first time after the third match, we were top of the First Division. It was two points for a win back then, and we had six points out of six. Cloughie was a huge character. He used to come into the dressing room at half-time after a few minutes and everyone would look down, tie their bootlaces or whatever – anything to avoid eye contact with him. I remember his saying’ ‘Hey fatty... and you big head!’ – at Larry Lloyd and Kenny Burns – and Kenny had just won the PFA Player of the Year award!  He said, ‘I’m paying you two good money to get close to their forwards, so get out and do it!’  - with a few more colourful terms I won't repeat! He would just nail it straight away whereas other managers would go on for the full 10 minutes.

“I was living in Wilmslow at the time, and next up, we had a game against Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup, so I drove to the team hotel in Blackburn from my house and had lunch with everyone and partway through, Peter Taylor came over and said, ‘I’ll have a chat with you after you’ve had your lunch.’

“When we spoke, he said, ‘What would you say if I told you Everton are interested in you? And that we are prepared to sell?’

“I was taken aback somewhat, but I suppose I was trying to be smart and just said, ‘Well I suppose I need to speak to Gordon Lee [Everton manager] then, don’t I?’

“Taylor said, ‘Good. He’ll be here in half-an-hour!’ It seemed it had all been set up and I was the last to find out. I went to see Clough before I spoke with Lee and just asked whether if the reason Forest were rumoured to be signing Andy Gray for £1.5 million had anything to do with it, and had they needed the money? Cloughie told me not to worry and that and that I’d be fine because I’d be getting 5% of the transfer fee to Everton. I was thinking ‘yeah, minus 80% in tax so thanks very much!’

“I’d only played three games, had done well and didn’t really get it. He'd fallen out with Archie Gemmill, but he sold him too soon because he went on to have three good years with Birmingham City, but I guess he did that with quite a few players over the years.

“I was enjoying my time with Everton, but Howard Kendall came back and I think he was looking to get Peter Reid in.

"City had been in the FA Cup final a few months before I think John Bond saw an opportunity and when he came in for me, I jumped at the chance of coming back to the club in 1981.”

City Slicker part 2

Hartford re-joined a City squad with plenty of talent, but also with a number of ageing stars. Despite Asa scoring in a 3-1 Boxing Day win over Liverpool at Anfield and going into 1982 as the First Division leaders, the a steady decline began, and Bond’s City eventually finished mid-table. 

Star striker Trevor Francis was sold after just one season and Bond, unable to turn things around, quit early in 1983 and Hartford was part of the City team that were relegated on the final day of the 1982/83 season.

The now 32 year-old Scot, who had left West Brom after their relegation in 1974, was now facing his first campaign outside the top flight.

“I was enjoying my second spell, but obviously relegation was a bitter pill for everyone to swallow and when Billy McNeill took over, things went a bit sour,” he said.

“Billy had always gone out of his way to praise me when I was younger, but I had an  ankle injury when he came to Maine Road, and I ended up missing quite a few games.

“I remember I was at home in Wilmslow when the phone went and it was Robert Maxwell who was a newspaper tycoon and chairman of Oxford United at the time. He said, ‘I’ve spoken with your chairman, Mr Smales – as he called him -  and I’ve been given permission to speak to you. I am going to be taking over a big First Division club soon and I’d like to take you, Jim, and Colin with me’

"Jim Smith was the Oxford manager, and he had Colin Todd as his No.2, but I wondered what he was on about. It later turned out he tried to buy Manchester United not that long after, but I couldn’t understand why nobody at City had informed me before Maxwell had called. Billy McNeill admitted I should have been told, but I said it didn't matter because I wasn’t interested in dropping down a couple of divisions to join Oxford anyway. Or Manchester United, come to that.

“I told Billy I wanted to stay and fight for my place – my contract was winding down anyway – and I called Robert Maxwell to tell him as much. He came onto the phone, I said that I was sorry, but I was staying at City and he just listened and said, ‘Thank you.’ And hung up! That was the only thing he said.”

With his contract at an end in the summer of 1984, Asa took the chance to join Fort Lauderdale Sun in the USA where he planned to build up his fitness and enjoy a bit of sunshine in the process. At 33, he still felt he had plenty to offer.

“It was a busman’s holiday in Fort Lauderdale, and I was just there to play a bit and get fit – they had players like the Peru star ‘Nene’ Cubillas who I had played against in the 1978 World Cup, and I enjoyed it for a few months before coming back and signing for Norwich. I would end up scoring the winner in the 1985 League Cup final against Sunderland while I was there – well it would be classed as my goal nowadays as it was on target, but it was went down as an own goal because of a sizeable deflection.

“After that, I played for Bolton, Oldham and Stockport and as Mick Channon once said, when you start sliding  down that glass mountain, you pick up a lot of clubs on the way. I enjoyed all my clubs having said that. My last club was Shrewsbury Town where I was player-coach under Ian McNeill, and when he left, I took over as caretaker manager and one of my players was a big gangly centre back called David Moyes!”

From player-coach, caretaker boss to player manager, there is much more to come from Asa who would return to City for a third time in 1995, this time as Alan Ball’s No.2 and would remain at the club for another decade.

We will discover whether it was third time lucky for Asa Hartford in part 2 of our look back at his career in a few weeks’ time…

Feature: David Clayton