Harte: Ian Patrick (Ian)

1994-2004 (Player Details)

Left Back

Born: Drogheda, Ireland: 31-08-1977

Debut: v Reading (h) (substitute): 10-01-1996

5’11” 11st 8lb (2007)

#68 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Harte, who played for St Kevin’s Boys in Drogheda, was on the verge of leaving Leeds two months into his two year apprenticeship. He had joined Leeds from Home Farm in 1995 and played a variety of positions for the juniors and reserves and later in the season sampled some Premiership action. When the eighteen-year-old Harte came on for his Leeds debut in the Coca Cola Cup against Reading it completed an amazing family double, as his uncle Gary Kelly, himself only twenty-one was already on the pitch. The uncle and nephew helped United to a narrow 2-1 success to take one further step down the road to Wembley. At the end of the campaign he was included, along with his uncle, in the full Republic of Ireland international squad for their summer tour. He played for Leeds for nine seasons and was an integral part of their team as they took Europe and the Premiership by storm. Occasionally his passing let him down, and at one point when Leeds bought Dominic Matteo it looked as though Harte might become second choice. Thanks to injury, Matteo ended up playing at centre half and Harte kept his place on the left. Harte was also a proficient left-footed free kick and penalty taker, and had scored from several set pieces for Leeds and the Republic of Ireland. He could also be pedestrian slow and many opposing teams exploited this weakness by playing fast tricky winners and channeling their attack down their right flank. This was partly outweighed by Harte’s ability from a dead ball situation and he was so strong and deadly accurate from free-kicks that he scored many vital goals for Leeds at home and in Europe. On one occasion in a pre-season friendly he scored a hat-trick from his speciality free-kicks, such was his ability, Despite rumours, earlier in his career, that clubs including Barcelona and AC Milan were offering Leeds as much as £11 million for his services, in the end it was Spanish side Levante that signed him from Leeds in 2004, following the financial crisis at Elland Road. Harte played in La Liga until he was released by Levante at the end of the 2006-07 season. On 29th August 2007 after a trial period, it was announced that he had joined former national team mate Roy Keane at Sunderland. He was on a one year contract. Harte made his Sunderland debut as a late substitute in the clubs 3-2 defeat away at Arsenal. He made three starts and had five games off the bench in the League but was released at the end of his contract. He spent time on trial at Wolverhampton Wanderers during Summer 2008 but rejected their eventual offer of a month-to-month contract. In September 2008 he joined Sheffield United to train at the club's Shirecliffe training ground complex. He then played for the Blades 3-0 win in a reserve match against Newcastle. Harte played for the Republic of Ireland on sixty-four occasions, scoring eleven goals. He was handed his international debut in 1996 against Croatia having made just four appearances for Leeds and earned a regular starting berth for the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign. However, as his club career flourished post 1998, he found himself out of the reckoning at international level though he returned for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers and was the only player to play every minute as Ireland reached the World Cup for the first time in eight years. He also notched up four goals during the campaign, from left back, including a penalty against Iran in the play-off though he struggled at the World Cup because of a toe injury and the emergence of John O’Shea restricted his appearances under Brian Kerr. He was recalled to the team for the home match against Isreal on 4th June 2005 and the away game in the Faroe Isles four days later. Harte scored in both games, which marked his return to the Irish senior football set-up. He was also capped three times by Ireland at the Under-Twenty-three level.