Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Talks to former West Ham United apprentice JAMIE HARNEY essi and red hot left him chasing ows... but it was e making of new ftonville ace
when I signed my contract, I played a few games for the first team and Sam Allardyce would have been a fan of mine.
“But a new academy director came in and the week after I signed my contract he told me I had no future at the club.
“That’s how ruthless it is. I was only 17 at the time, so it can be a horrible, horrible place to be, but then it can be the best place to be too.
“You need everything going for you to be a success over there.” After damaging his sciatic nerve in training the day after Colchester were relegated in May 2016, Harney was facing up to a long spell on the sidelines. He would spend much of those early weeks soulsearching, mulling over his future and what the professional game might hold in store for him in the years ahead.
Eventually, he steeled himself for a return to Northern Ireland, resolving it was better to go home and resume his studies than scratching around for a living as a football journeyman.
He trained last season with the Reds, then under the charge of Gerard Lyttle, but needed more time to recover from his injury, with Lyttle’s successor Barry Gray returning for the defender over the summer.
“I played the first three games at the start of the season and I think everyone including myself would say I didn’t play particularly well,” said Harney.
“But it sort of woke me up a bit and I realised I need to get my head down here because I know a lot of lads who have moved home and probably took it too easy, thinking I’ve been here, I’ve been there, so I’ll just waltz about and everything will be fine.
“So it was definitely one of them. If you don’t work hard here, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done, you will be out the door.
“But no, listen, I am absolutely loving it, I’m relishing playing for Cliftonville. This season, collectively, has been up and down in patches, but looking at it individually I feel I’m finding some form again and getting back to enjoying my football, so I’m getting there.”
Cliftonville’s campaign so far has indeed been a mixed bag, with a much hoped for title challenge failing to materialise, though sitting fourth in the league they remain heavily involved in the battle for European places.
Furthermore, they delivered their best performance of the season on Saturday, romping to a 4-1 defeat of derby rivals Crusaders in the Irish Cup, while they lock horns with Ballymena United tonight for a place in the Bet Mclean League Cup final. Their exploits in the knockout competitions have not been enough for Gray to win over some sections of the Cliftonville support, however, but Harney is adamant much of the negativity levelled at the new manager and his burgeoning reign has been both premature and unwarranted.
“In my opinion, I feel it is unfair criticism that Barry’s been getting,” said Harney, who has represented Northern Ireland at every age group from 16s to 21s.
“A lot of new players came in, Barry is a new manager coming in, and it did take us a while to get going but we did get going.
“We did hit a bit of a blip over Christmas but we’re in the next round of the Irish Cup, we’re in the semi-final of the League Cup, and we’re in a good position for a European place.
“There are fine margins that can make it a successful season so we are just going to do everything in our power so we can repay Barry because he has put a lot of work in.”
Looking ahead, after a slow start to his Reds career, Harney says it is his ambition to see Cliftonville unseat Crusaders, who they swept aside so convincingly on Saturday, as the best team in the country again.
“With a team like Cliftonville, Cliftonville should be winning things,” he said.
“Cliftonville should be winning leagues and should be winning cups and I would love to be a part of a Cliftonville team which brings back the glory days because they have such a great bunch of fans.
“On match day, going down to Ballinamallard, you see the amount of fans we do bring down, so it’s a great club to play for and I want to be successful for myself, for the team, for the fans and for the club.”