Graham Harvey Player Profile

Biography

Mention the name Graham Harvey to Dundee fans and they will often think of his exploits against United, particularly his double in a 3-0 victory at Tannadice and his ‘hat-trick that never was’ at the same venue in the Scottish Cup. What Graham Harvey also did however was finish as top Dark Blue goal scorer for 1986/87 and this achievement is all the more impressive as it was a season in which Tommy Coyne, Keith Wright and Ray Stephen also turned out for The Dee, who themselves all finished top goal scorer in different seasons.

Born in Musselburgh on April 21st 1961, Graham Harvey began his football career with his local primary school and then High School with both these establishments having considerable success during his school days. In his latter days as a schoolboy, Graham combined playing for under-age side Longnidrie Boys Club with his school side and such was his progress he was snapped up by one of the most famous of Scottish Junior teams, Ormiston Primrose.

Here again his abilities as a front player were soon spotted and recognition came by way of four international caps against the Republic of Ireland, Wales and England (twice) for the national Junior team. This led to Graham being spotted by Pat Stanton at Hibernian, who took him to Easter Road, where he made thirty-one appearances, scoring three times in his two and a half years in Leith.

By the end of 1984, Harvey was in dispute with Easter Road manager John Blackley and he was given the chance to end his Hibs’ hell when Dundee came in and offered to take him to Dens. The Dark Blues had recently been struggling to score goals and Dundee boss Archie Knox had publically declared his frustration at his sides’ inability to convert the chances they were creating which culminated in a 1-0 New Year Day’s loss to Dumbarton. Dundee had totally dominated the match at Boghead but missed some gilt edge chances and one of the main culprits of firing a blank that afternoon was Colin Harris who had scored only three goals in his last twenty six matches.

Just a few days after that disappointment therefore, Harris was on his way out of Dens when he joined Hibernian in exchange for Graham Harvey.

Harvey made his debut for The Dee at home to Rangers on January 5th in a thrilling 2-2 draw in which captain John McCormack grabbed both goals and Harvey himself was on the scoresheet in Dundee’s next match in a 3-3 draw at Hearts.

By the end of his debut season, Harvey had made ten appearances scoring twice (his other goal coming in a 1-0 home win over St Mirren in February) as he battled it out with Ray Stephen, Albert Kidd and Walker McCall for the striking berths.

It was an enjoyable end to the season with wins in Glasgow against both sides of the Old Firm and a last day derby win over United but ultimately it was disappointing as Dundee missed out on Europe by finishing just one point behind Rangers in fourth and St Mirren in fifth. This meant that Archie Knox continued to bring in new faces, including Jim Duffy and for Harvey it meant further competition for a striking spot when Ross Jack was brought in from Lincoln City on a free transfer.

Harvey however laid down a marker for his place in the side with a goal in his first start against Brechin City in the Forfarshire Cup. As the season progressed more competition emerged in the shape of youngster Colin Hendry but Harvey featured thirty-six times scoring nine times which included a winner against Rangers at Dens in March and a hat-trick against Nairn County in a 7-0 Scottish Cup win.

Season 1985/86 however ended in similar disappointment when having missed out on Europe by a point the year before, Dundee this time missed out on goal difference to Rangers, despite costing Hearts the League on the final day.

By the start of the following campaign, Harvey had a new boss at Dens when Jocky Scott stepped up from assistant following Knox’s departure to join Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen and he started the new season with Harvey up front with Ray Stephen. Scott’s faith in the twenty-five year old was to be repaid when Harvey finished as top goal scorer for the season with seventeen despite fierce competition from new signings Tommy Coyne and Keith Wright who would both join the Club in December.

By then however, Harvey had written himself into Dens Park folklore with a brace against Dundee United at Tannadice in a 3-0 win on November 8th. In one of his best performances in a dark blue shirt, Harvey ran a United defence - which included Hegarty, Narey and Malpas - ragged with his clever runs and excellent hold up play and his performance got the goals it deserved with the first two strikes.

Rab Shannon added a third after another great run from Harvey who had become a master of shielding the ball and holding up play and in the aftermath, David Narey called him a ‘very difficult opponent who is dangerous with his back to goal.’

After years of regular defeats to their fiercest rivals, it was a glorious day for The Dee against a side who would finish third in the league and runners-up in both the UEFA and Scottish Cups and to turn them over at Tannadice was a dream. It was definitely Graham Harvey’s derby.

In its aftermath however, his strike partner Ray Stephen was sold to Nancy of France for £150, 000 and although a disappointment to the Dundee support, it was quickly forgotten when ‘Shaky’s’ transfer fee was reinvested in bringing Tommy Coyne and Keith Wright to Dens from Dundee United and Raith Rovers respectively.

On December 13th the Cobra and the Mongoose made their home debuts up front alongside Harvey against St Mirren and the new look attack went nap with a 6-3 win, in which Harvey got a double.

He continued to play alongside both Coyne and Wright, netting some valuable goals himself including a crucial strike to rescue a draw against Meadowbank in the Scottish Cup.

By the end of the season, the prolific Coyne and Wright were establishing themselves as the preferred partnership but on the last day of the season, Harvey still showed his worth by getting his seventeenth of the season in a 7-3 win over Hamilton to ensure his finished top scorer. That win meant Dundee had scored one hundred goals in all competitions and Harvey had more than contributed to that total but it was an ultimately frustrating season with a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Dundee United and a sixth place finish once again to miss out on Europe by one spot.

Harvey wasn’t involved in the semi-final defeat at Tynecastle but he was involved in the chance for revenge when Dundee drew the Arabs in the quarter-final of the League Cup near the start of the following season.

In front of a capacity crowd at Dens on September 2nd 1987, Harvey started on the bench and watched as Tommy Coyne equalised with just seven minutes left to take the match into extra time. Within minutes of the restart however he came on to replace Vince Mennie and shortly afterwards was involved in the winning goal when Keith Wright finished off some great interplay between Harvey and Coyne.

As the clock ticked down, Harvey ability to hold up the ball was key to relieving the pressure on the home defence being superbly marshalled by Jim Duffy and when the final whistle went, there were joyous scenes amongst the Dens Park faithful.

This wasn’t the last time that season however when Harvey would come off the bench in a cup tie against United to make an impact as he did it again in March in a Scottish Cup quarter-final match at Tannadice.

Two nil down at half time, things looked bleak for Dundee when Tosh McKinlay was stretchered off with a broken ankle and replaced by Graham Harvey and few in the away support could have envisaged the impact he would make. Giving David Narey another torrid night, Harvey netted twice to pull Dundee level and then with just seven minutes left he brilliantly hooked the ball over his shoulder and into the net at the Shed end to send the Dundee fans into raptures.

Incredibly however, the linesman flag was up and the goal was chopped off for offside to deny Graham Harvey his fairytale hat-trick and a thrilling evening would end in a two all draw.

Coming off the bench that season was pretty much Harvey’s lot as he did so twenty-one times but he still managed to score eight goals despite playing second fiddle to Coyne and Wright who scored fifty-six goals between them. He did however play in the victorious Tennents’ Sixes team where his close control and trickery made him a natural at the indoor game.

The start of season 1988/89 saw Harvey get a run in the side under new manager Dave Smith and he repaid his new boss with a hat-trick against Queen of the South in the second game of the season.

In October, he starred in a 3-2 win at Celtic Park when The Dee came back from 2-0 down against the Bhoys. With Coyne employed in midfield, Harvey played up front and the Celtic defence struggled to handle the close control of the tricky striker up and played a big part in a famous win, scoring the goal which had brought Dundee level.

By season 1989/90, Harvey was still fighting off serious competition for places for although Tommy Coyne had by then left for Celtic, new manager Gordon Wallace had brought in Billy Dodds. It wasn’t long therefore before Harvey was off to pastures new and joined Airdrie for £50,000 but not before he was involved in another famous derby when he started in the 4-3 win in which Keith Wright got a hat-trick.

Harvey’s career took him to Broomfield for three years before moving to Hong Kong to play for Instant-Dict and he finished his career back in Lothian after signing for Livingston in 1996 where he scored thirty-three goals in seventy-seven games in a three year spell.

Harvey can be proud of his record at Dens scoring forty-seven times in 152 appearances finishing as top scorer for the 1986/87 season. With competition for striking places in his four years at Dens being very fierce from a variety of sources, he made a lot of those appearances from the bench and he will be remembered fondly for his derby exploits in which he won five, drew five and scored five and generally made David Narey’s life a misery.