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Date and Place of Birth 26th September 1979 - MAIDSTONE
Transfers to and from Burnley from SHEFFIELD UNITED - 26th August 2005 (£75,000) released - 9th May 2008
First and Last Burnley Games DERBY COUNTY (h) - 27th August 2005
CRYSTAL PALACE (h) - 4th May 2008
Other Clubs CHELSEA, WIMBLEDON (loan), FULHAM, SHEFFIELD UNITED (loan), WEST HAM UNITED (loan), SHEFFIELD UNITED ---------------------------------------- WATFORD, NOTTS COUNTY, ROTHERHAM UNITED (loan), PORTSMOUTH |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 2005/06 | 41 | 2 | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | - | 44 | 2 |
| 2006/07 | 44(1) | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 46(1) | 1 |
| 2007/08 | 31(2) | - | 1 | - | 0(1) | - | - | - | 32(3) | - |
| Total | 116(3) | 3 | 3 | - | 3(1) | - | - | - | 122(4) | 3 |
Profile by Tony Scholes
Jon Harley's Burnley career came to an abrupt end on Friday 9th May when manager Owen Coyle withdrew the offer of a new contract after the two couldn't agree, this coming just three days after he'd been offered the deal as the club announced the retained list.
It ended almost three years at Turf Moor for the Kent born left back who had signed from Sheffield United in August 2005 as Steve Cotterill finally found a replacement for Mo Camara who had left the previous summer. He signed initially on loan for a few days to allow him to feature in a home game against Derby just over a week after he'd played at Turf Moor against us for Sheffield United.
That wasn't his first appearance at Turf Moor, that came in August 2001 when he played for Chelsea in a pre-season friendly. It wasn't the best of days for him either, he had a difficult time particularly against Glen Little and four days later Claudio Ranieri sold him to Fulham for £3.5 million.
He'd started his career with Chelsea and made his debut for them in 1998 in a 1-0 Premiership win at Derby, playing the first 83 minutes of the game before being replaced by Eddie Newton. He was never able to establish himself under either Gianluca Vialli or Ranieri but his only time away from Stamford Bridge was a month on loan with Wimbledon in 2000.
The move to Fulham in 2001 failed to work out and he didn't play too often in Jean Tigana's side. He was at Craven Cottage for four years but played only 25 league games for them including six as a substitute and he spent time away on loan. During this time he played at Turf Moor again, in fact he played in both matches when we put them out of the FA Cup.
In the 2002/03 and 2003/04 seasons he enjoyed loan spells with Sheffield United and in the second of those seasons then went to West Ham on loan. It was Bramall Lane he moved to next in the summer of 2004 on a permanent basis.
He was very much first choice at left back in his first season starting all but two games, and it was the same again at the beginning of the following season so it was something of a shock move when he suddenly signed for Burnley less than two weeks into the season. As it happened Sheffield United were replacing him with David Unsworth, Steve Cotterill was alerted to that move and made a quick enquiry to check on Harley's availability and signed him.
Jon went straight into the Burnley team and just about stayed there for two years. He missed just two games in that time, one in each season and both as he served a one match ban for reaching five yellow cards. Unfortunately for him the game he missed in 2005/06 was the return to Bramall Lane.
Given the quality of previous left backs it was no surprise to see him settle in the side and play well and he was probably at his best for us during the period up to Christmas 2005 when we had a run that took us from bottom of the league into the play off places. He scored twice in the pre-Christmas 4-1 win over Watford, one from a hotly disputed free kick and the other from the penalty spot, taking over the penalty taking duties in the absence of Gareth O'Connor.
He suffered like the rest of the side during a difficult run early in 2006 and never seemed to recapture that early form. The following season initially saw him linking up well with Steve Jones on the left hand side but defensively he wasn't the strongest and as the Clarets hit an horrendous run of form he was often caught out.
That led to Cotterill bringing in another left back in the summer of 2007 with the capture of Stephen Jordan on a three year deal, yet when we lined up on the opening day of the season Jon Harley was still in the starting eleven on the left hand side of midfield, a position in which he'd started at Chelsea.
The experiment didn't last long and he was out of the side for a while. It was a shortage of centre halves that initially allowed him back into the side at Leicester. Michael Duff and Steven Caldwell were both out injured and David Unsworth was missing with a suspension when we went to Leicester with Steve Davis in charge of the side. Jordan played in the centre which enabled Jon to play at left back.
Jordan was injured just before half time and when Owen Coyle came in as manager was unavailable meaning Harley was still in the team, and that's where he stayed for much of the remainder of the season.
During a midfield crisis he played a couple of games there but immediately moved back to left back and played possibly the best football he'd played whilst at Burnley. He missed three games as the season came to a close because of a hamstring injury and then because of his baby being unwell, but he was back in the side for the last game at Crystal Palace and was expected to be offered a new deal with his initial three year contract at an end.
He duly was two days after that Palace game but just 72 hours after that came news that he and the club could not agree and he'd be leaving Burnley. It is believed that the Clarets had offered him a new two year contract but he wanted three years, and as far as Coyle was concerned this was not an option.
That left Jon Harley for now looking for a new club for the 2008/09 season and after a successful pre-season trial he joined Watford on a two year contract, completing the move on 17th July. He spent those two years at Watford but left at the end of the 2009/10 season with Watford unable to afford to keep him, and Harley himself wanting to move back north with his family.
On 14th July 2010, Jon signed a two year deal with Notts County who had just been promoted to League One. It was a difficult 2010/11 season at Notts with three different managers and Jon Harley was told by Martin Allen, the third manager, he was free to find another club at the end of that first season.
Still at Notts County, he had played just one league game by October and on 14th October he signed a one month emergency deal for League Two Rotherham United. He returned to Notts County, by then under a new manager in Keith Curle, and eventually won his place back in the side. However, he was released at the end of the 2011/12 season.
He spent the summer training with Portsmouth, a club in administration and unable to use any of their own players. With those players all gone, they signed ten players on the eve of the 2012/13 season, all on one month contracts. Jon Harley was one of those ten players. Harley remained at Portsmouth on a series of short term contracts but with the club still in administration was told that he would have to leave the club on 15th January 2013. He went on to rejoin his first club Chelsea as an under-16 coach and also signed, as a non-contract player, for Maidstone United and played six times as they went on to win promotion to the Ryan League Premier Division.
Links
Harley signs for Watford (17/07/08)
Harley set for Notts (12/07/10)
Harley completes move to Meadow Lane (14/07/10)
Unwanted Harley and Thomas looking for new clubs (19/05/11)
Harley joins Rotherham (14/10/11)
Harley and Spicer join the ex-Clarets looking for clubs (11/05/12)
Ex-Claret training with Pompey (10/07/12)
Harley is one of ten to join Pompey (17/08/12)