Alan Hardaker OBE (29 July 1912Biographical details such as date of birth, wife's former surname, etc.: RNVR (UnitHistories.com) website. Retrieved 2 August 2007. − 4 March 1980) was an English football administrator for the Football League, a wartime Royal Navy officer, and previously an amateur footballer. He was born in Hull, Yorkshire and was the second son to John and Emma Hardaker. He was younger brother of Ernest Hardaker.
Education and early career Hardaker's education began at Constable Street Elementary School in Hull, and from there he was awarded a scholarship to Riley High School, leaving in 1928 with qualifications in typing and shorthand. He initially went into the family removals and haulage business, until he was sacked in 1929 by his own father for playing dominoes instead of working. He was able to use his qualifications to find immediate employment as an office junior in the Town Clerk's department at the Hull Guildhall.
He met Irene Mundy when he was 17 and she was a year younger. They married eight years later in North Ferriby church. They would go on to have four daughters and many grandchildren.
He had first taken up playing football at the high school, and so joined Municipal Sports, the Guildhall team. He was sent off on one occasion during his time with them, for retaliation. Playing in the centre forward position, he scored 100 goals in three seasons, although he claimed that most of these were only possible due to the quality of those playing alongside him.
After moving on to East Riding County League champions Beverley White Star (now defunct), he was invited by Hull City to play for their reserve side against Bradford Park Avenue Reserves. He had been converted to full back by this time, and that was the position he took up for the Hull City Reserves. From then on, he played for one or other of the teams on a regular basis for the next three seasons.
In 1935, he captained the East Riding County FA representative team when they won the Northern Counties Amateur Championship.
He was offered professional terms in 1936 by manager Jack Hill, which he turned down, as by the age of 23 he had progressed to become Lord Mayor's secretary at the Guildhall. After then playing eleven games for the Reserves in the Midland League, and coinciding with a change in team management, he was released by the club. He went on to play for Bridlington Central United (later known as Bridlington Town) of the East Riding Amateur League, and then moved to the Yorkshire Amateur Football Club in the Yorkshire League.
World War II Both his sporting career and his professional life were interrupted by the imminent outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, and in his official capacity as Lord Mayor's secretary he was asked to help start the Humber Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in readiness for hostilities. He joined them on 12 June 1939, as a Paymaster Lieutenant initially assigned to the light cruiser moored in Hull docks. However, after the war began, he was transferred to ,War history of HMS Newcastle, which Hardaker served on: hms-newcastle.co.uk website. Retrieved 4 August 2007. based at Scapa Flow and saw service on the "Northern Patrol", which protected convoys of Allied ships from German vessels sent to attack.
In 1942, after subsequently serving on , he became a lieutenant commander, and transferred, this time to the decommissioned torpedo training ship secured at Eastbourne. He then received a posting to Australia as supply officer to HMS Alert, a shore-based camp in Sydney, and in December 1944 moved on to HMS Golden Hind, a Royal Navy manning depot, also in Sydney.
Whilst in Australia, he resumed his sporting career, captaining the Royal Navy football side in organised matches for a single season. Hardaker remained in Australia until the end of the war, eventually deciding to retire from playing at the age of 34.
Career Following his return to Britain, Hardaker fulfilled the temporary position of clerk to the Education Committee back at Hull Guildhall, due to his previous job being already occupied. When he was refused permission to resume his post as Lord Mayor's secretary in Hull, he applied for an identical appointment in Portsmouth and was successful at interview. He and his young family moved there in August 1946. In 1950, he was removed from the active list of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve at his own request.
In 1951, Portsmouth manager Bob Jackson got in touch with Hardaker to say that Fred Howarth, the Football League secretary, was considering retiring from the job, and recommended that he apply. Vernon Stokes, the chairman of Portsmouth at that time, also urged him to apply. Stokes later became chairman of the Football Association Disciplinary Committee.
Seen to be answering an advertisement in The Daily Telegraph newspaper inviting applications, he sent his application to the Football League headquarters in Starkie Street, Preston. The Management Committee of the League drew up a shortlist of six candidates, which included Hardaker, from an initial response of 410 applicants.
On 1 May 1951, he accepted the invitation to replace Howarth, although this was not to formally happen for another five and a half years, due to the seeming reluctance of Howarth to actually retire. Hardaker took up a junior position during this period, at a much-reduced salary and receiving only a small pay rise each year thereafter. He later indicated in his autobiography that he felt "badly let down" by Arthur Drewry, the League President at that time.
Eventually, on 5 July 1955, he was confirmed as assistant secretary to Fred Howarth. Hardaker had used the intervening time to read every archived document since 1888 which related to the League and its business and was better prepared to take on the top job.
On New Year's Eve 1956, Howarth deposited his work keys on Hardaker's desk and left the building for the last time, after 23 years' service. On 6 January 1957 Hardaker was appointed by the Management Committee as the new Football League secretary.
As Football League secretary One major change which took place at the Football League two years after Hardaker's appointment was a shift in location for the organisation's headquarters. The Starkie Street premises were little more than a converted town house, and the incoming League President at that time, Joe Richards, decided to ask Hardaker to look for more appropriate offices outside Preston.
The unanimous choice, after consideration of Blackpool and Leamington Spa as possibilities, was the former Sandown Hotel in Clifton Drive, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and this was purchased for £11,000. Hardaker was heavily involved in the six-month renovation of the building to make it suitable for purpose, and this was completed at a total cost of £40,000. The previous premises sold for £3,250.
When Hardaker first joined the staff of the League, they numbered six full-time employees. As a measure of the expansion and diversification achieved during his time as secretary, by 1977 this had increased to 25. He enjoyed the complete confidence of the Management Committee and was delegated by them many powers to act independently concerning certain matters. In his autobiography, he claims that, due to this measure of autonomy, he was perceived as "arrogant and high-handed" and had "frequently been called a dictator" by some club officials. He maintained that his "one aim" in football had always been to "see the League prosper".
Following the passing of the Copyright Act 1956, he suggested to the Management Committee that the lists of League fixtures published each year should be subject to copyright for use by companies such as football pools promoters. He was duly given approval to implement a test case against Littlewoods Pools in 1959,League fixtures copyright case, 1959: mention in a Guardian Unlimited website article. Retrieved 16 November 2013. and this the League won, meaning that a source of income would be secured for the clubs, as the Pools companies now needed to pay for the privilege of printing the fixtures on their coupons.
Hardaker was also required to attend the House of Commons in London to address members of Parliament regarding the abolition of the maximum wage for football players, which Jimmy Hill, the ex-Fulham player and then chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, had led a campaign for. The PFA won their members' pay freedom in 1961.Abolishing the 'maximum wage' (1961), and the retained transfer system (1963): The Independent website. Retrieved 16 November 2013. However, this did not affect the transfer system, which still allowed clubs to retain players' registrations even after their contracts had expired.
When an application to the High Court was made in June 1963, submitted by the out-of-contract Newcastle United player George Eastham, Hardaker was called to give evidence. Despite him arguing in favour of the contract structure as it then was (the League Management Committee had instructed him in how he should proceed), Eastham won his case and thereafter the players could move more easily from club to club.
Hardaker was instrumental in designing the 1957 "Pattern of Football", which would have seen the existing 92 clubs, then occupying the four divisions of the League, increased to 100, with 20 teams in each of five divisions. The purpose of this was to reduce the number of weeks in the football season, allowing for less fixture congestion. At the same time, there would be more opportunity to accommodate extra competitions, such as the Football League Cup, which had been introduced during the 1960–61 season. The proposal was defeated after a vote by the member clubs, and the Pattern was discarded.
Although it is widely reported that the League Cup was Hardaker's idea, in his autobiography he credits Stanley Rous, who was at that time secretary of the Football Association. He relates the tale of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, which was a joint exercise by the FA and League to help regenerate football in England at the end of the Second World War. Rous apparently designed a separate knockout competition, to be entered by those clubs beaten in the early rounds of the FA Cup proper, but the plan was never approved. It was this idea, in tandem with the blueprint of the already implemented Scottish League Cup north of the border, which prompted Hardaker to formulate the English League Cup.
The League Cup was poorly received when it was first announced. Hardaker said that the proposed competition received criticism not only from Fleet Street, but from the League clubs themselves - entry into the competition was not compulsory, and Arsenal, Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur all refused to participate during the inaugural season.
However, the signing of television contracts for the 1961–62 competition, and the money this would generate, helped persuade many of the boycotters to take part the following year, although various clubs still declined to enter each year. The award by UEFA of a European cup competition place for the winner of the League Cup each year, plus the attraction of Wembley as a final venue, were also strong incentives for all the clubs to join, and this was achieved by 1967.
A much-quoted line from Alan Hardaker goes: "The FA Cup is football's Ascot, the League Cup its equivalent of Derby Day at Epsom".Quotation of Hardaker's horseracing analogy when referring to the two major Cup competitions in England: Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 4 August 2007.