James Harvey (born 2 May 1958) is a Northern Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player.

Playing career

As a player, Harvey began his career at Glenavon in his hometown of

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

, before joining

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in 1977. He made only three

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appearances and one

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appearance in three years, with his debut coming against Derby County on 9 May 1978. Harvey moved to Hereford United in 1980, where he made 278 league appearances. He had a brief spell at Bristol City and then on

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, before moving to Tranmere Rovers in 1987; there he played 239 matches, scoring 19 goals, and became

club captain The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...

. At Tranmere, he was the playmaker for a team that gained two promotions and won the

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final in 1990. Spells at Crewe Alexandra,

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and Chester City (youth coach) followed, and he finished his playing career as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Managerial career

Harvey joined Morecambe as player-manager in July 1994 and led them into the

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in 1996. In 1998, he managed Morecambe to the Conference League Cup title, beating

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in the Final. He also led Morecambe to second place in the Conference in 2003, before being defeated in a

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in the semi-final against Dagenham & Redbridge. He also served as assistant manager to long-time friend Sammy McIlroy when McIlroy was in charge of the

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national team. Harvey suffered a heart attack before a league match against

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in November 2005. Whilst Harvey was given time off to recuperate, McIlroy was installed as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

. McIlroy took Morecambe into the play-offs during Harvey's absence, and on Harvey's first day back after his illness in May 2006, he was sacked with McIlroy being installed as permanent manager in his place. Harvey's sacking from Morecambe has led to serious animosity between the two former friends and colleagues; they refused to shake hands when Harvey's Forest Green side met McIlroy's Morecambe at Christie Park in November 2006. After spending the pre-season coaching at Crewe Alexandra, in September 2006, Harvey replaced Gary Owers to become Forest Green Rovers' seventh manager in nine seasons. He took over a team, at the bottom of the Conference with just 2 points from the first six games and led them to safety with a game to spare. In his second season as Forest Green boss he led the club to its highest ever league finish of 8th in the Conference National under his guidance. He then led the club to the third round of the

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in his third season at Forest Green where they narrowly lost 4–3 to

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side Derby County. In the same season he took Forest Green into the Conference League Cup Final following a 1–0 away win at Ebbsfleet United in the semi-finals however Forest Green lost in the final to AFC Telford United 0–3 on penalties after the game finished goalless. He left the club in August 2009. On 6 October 2009, Harvey was appointed manager of Chester City until the end of the 2009–10 season, where he had previously been part of the coaching staff in the mid-1990s. However Harvey resigned in January 2010 because of uncertainty regarding his future. On 12 February 2010 Harvey was appointed manager of Stalybridge Celtic in the

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. He left the club in October 2013. On 1 June 2015, it was confirmed that he had joined League One side

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

as part of the coaching staff. On 1 October 2015, Harvey was appointed as assistant manager to Darren Kelly at FC Halifax Town. On 22 December 2015, Harvey was appointed as manager of the club, following a spell as caretaker manager. While the club's form improved under him, and they were victorious in the 2016 FA Trophy Final, they were ultimately relegated after failing to win their final game of the season, and Harvey was not offered the chance to continue. On 7 December 2016, Harvey was sacked as

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boss after just one league win in three months.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1986–87 Fourth Division, 1988–89 Fourth Division, 1989–90 Third Division

Manager

FC Halifax Town *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

: 2015–16 Individual *

Manager of the Month: April 2003

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Jim 1958 births Living people Association footballers from Lurgan Men's association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Southport F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Morecambe F.C. managers Forest Green Rovers F.C. managers Chester City F.C. managers Stalybridge Celtic F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Chester City F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff Altrincham F.C. managers FC Halifax Town non-playing staff