Joseph Jordan (born 15 December 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Playing as a forward, his strong, fearless and committed play contributed to him being nicknamed "Jaws".
Jordan started his senior football career with Greenock Morton in 1968. With Leeds United, he won the 1973–74 Football League First Division and was runner-up in the 1972–73 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 1974–75 European Cup. With Manchester United, he was runner-up in the 1978–79 FA Cup. He won the 1982–83 Serie B title with Milan and was runner-up in the 1983–84 Coppa Italia with Hellas Verona. He helped Southampton to their second highest league finish of fifth in 1984–85, which would have qualified the team for the 1985–86 UEFA Cup had English clubs not been banned following the Heysel Stadium disaster. He ended his playing career with Bristol City, where he also became player-manager.
Jordan gained 52 full Scotland caps, scoring 11 goals. He is the only Scot to score in three World Cups (1974, 1978 and 1982). For his playing efforts for club and country, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
He has managed or coached Bristol City (twice), Heart of Midlothian, Celtic, Stoke City, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers, Middlesbrough and most recently AFC Bournemouth.
Jordan was born in the village of Cleland, Lanarkshire (sometimes given as the nearby town of Carluke). After leaving school, Jordan became an apprentice draughtsman. At age 15, Jordan had also begun playing for the Scottish Junior Football Association club, Blantyre Victoria.
Jordan began his professional career in 1968, joining Morton from Blantyre Victoria for £250. He initially played for Morton part-time. His only Morton goal was in the 4–1 home league win against Partick Thistle on 14 April 1970. That win clinched Morton's place in the new Texaco Cup. Four days later he was involved in the build-up for Bobby Collins' goal which clinched a 2–0 win at Rangers.
39-year-old Collins was Morton's player-coach. He had started his professional career playing for Celtic, the club Jordan supported as a boy. In 1962, Collins had joined Don Revie's Leeds United for five seasons. Revie later described Collins as "the best signing I ever made". As well as his Morton duties, Collins was now also Leeds' scout in Scotland. Collins personally recommended Jordan to Revie. Revie watched Jordan in Morton's Texaco Cup game at West Bromwich Albion. Morton won both legs (2–1 home and 1–0 away) for a 3–1 aggregate victory. Jordan described Collins as his "footballing godfather". Jordan recalled the Rangers game in his book: "I got involved in the move that resulted in a goal for Collins, my hero and, as it turned out, the man who put in the word that carried me to where I wanted to be, at the top of the professional game".
In total, Jordan made 12 league and cup appearances for Morton.
Aged 18, Jordan signed for Revie at Leeds in November 1970 for £15,000, plus an extra £5,000 if Jordan made Leeds' first-team. There was little initial prospect of Jordan making the first team ahead of the well-established, successful forward partnership of Allan Clarke and Mick Jones.
In 1973, Jordan made 16 League starts and scored nine goals. However, he was left out of the team that lost the FA Cup final 1–0 to Sunderland. He played in the 1–0 defeat to Milan in the 1973 European Cup Winners' Cup final. Jordan scored seven goals in his 25 games in Leeds' 1973–74 League-winning team.
By 1974, Jordan was Leeds' main target man providing many knock-downs, especially for Peter Lorimer. With other Scottish players at Leeds, Jordan formed part of the so-called "Scottish mafia", alongside goalkeeper David Harvey (1965–1980, 1982–1984), defender Gordon McQueen (1972–1978), midfielder Billy Bremner (1959–1976), left winger Eddie Gray (1965–1983) and right winger Peter Lorimer (1963–1979, 1983–1986).
In the 1974–75 European Cup, Jordan scored in the home first-leg wins over FC Zürich (4–1 for 5–3 on aggregate) and Anderlecht (3–0 for 4–0 on aggregate). Leeds also eliminated Újpesti Dózsa (5–1 on aggregate) and FC Barcelona (3–2 on aggregate). Jordan and Leeds lost the 1975 European Cup final 2–0 to Bayern Munich.
In the 135 league games that Jordan played for Leeds, he scored 39 goals.
Aged 26, Jordan signed for Manchester United, managed by Dave Sexton, on 4 January 1978 for £350,000. The club reached the 1979 FA Cup final, losing 3–2 to Arsenal. During a 1980 FA Cup third round replay at Old Trafford, Jordan clashed with Tottenham Hotspur's goalkeeper Milija Aleksic, dislocating Aleksic's jaw. The Independent in 2011 described this as a revenge act for Aleksic repeatedly charging Jordan during corners. It became known as the game that saw Tottenham's Glenn Hoddle play in goal.
During Jordan's time at Old Trafford, they were runners-up in the 1979–80 Football League First Division. They recovered from a poor start to the season to finish two points (equivalent to one win at the time) off top spot. The winners were Liverpool, who for 15 years from the mid-1970s succeeded Leeds as England's team to beat. Jordan top scored for United that season with 13 goals, all in the league. United's second place finish qualified them for the 1980–81 UEFA Cup, alongside Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town who finished third. United were eliminated in the UEFA Cup first round by Widzew Łódź on away goals after drawing 1–1 at home and 0–0 in Poland. Ipswich won the UEFA Cup that season. Jordan top scored again that season, this time with 15 (all in the league).
Aged 29, Jordan transferred to AC Milan in July 1981. He played in the 1981–82 Serie A season, succeeding Denis Law as the second Scotsman to both play in and score in the Italian Football Championship since its rebranding as Serie A in 1929–30. Jordan scored two goals in his 22 Serie A games that season, the first of which, on 7 November 1981, was the opener in a 1–1 home draw against Como.
In the 1981–82 Coppa Italia, Milan finished third in the five-team group behind group winners Internazionale and Hellas Verona. Jordan's header put Milan 2–1 ahead against Inter in the 49th minute. Walter Novellino had put Milan ahead before Alessandro Altobelli equalised. Giuseppe Bergomi added a second Inter equaliser in the 89th minute for a 2–2 final score.
Milan won the 1981/82 Mitropa Cup. Their opponents in the 4 team round-robin competition were TJ Vítkovice, Haladás and NK Osijek.