A fearsome sight without his teeth in, Joe Jordan cut a scary figure on the pitch, but when he moved into the dug-out, he became a well respected coach and motivator of players.
When he left school, he went into an apprenticeship as a draughtsman, but he needn't have worried, as his football made him a hot property and playing for Blantyre Victoria in Junior football in Scotland, he was soon scouted. Started his playing career at Morton in Scotland, becoming a professional in 1968, before joining Leeds United a year later as an 18 year old for £15,000.
Noted as a fearsome, physical striker, he provided an alternative to the likes of Allan Clarke and Mick Jones at Leeds and terrorised many a defence. Took Leeds to a European Cup final in the final stages of Don Revie's management of the club and moved on to Manchester United in 1978 and played in the losing side in the 1979 FA Cup Final.
As an international player he reached three World Cup finals with Scotland and was responsible for two of them, scoring against Czechoslovakia in 1974 and forcing a controversial penalty in against Wales at Anfield which helped the Scots through in 1978.
After United had changed management and his services were bono longer required, Joe moved to Italy in 1981, where he became a hero at AC Milan, helping them back to Serie A after relegation in 1982. Enjoying his time in Italy so much, he stayed in the country, moving further North to play for Verona, staying for only one season. It precipitated his return to England, with a move to Southampton, where he had three years before departing on a free transfer to Bristol City, where he ended his playing days as player-manager.
Bristol City gave him his first opportunity in management with a spell in charge at the club from March 1988 to November 1990, taking them to the Second Division in his second season at the helm. Once managed Heart of Midlothian in a pre-season friendly against Spurs in 1992 at Tynecastle, with Tottenham winning 2-1. During his time at Hearts (10 September 1990 to 3rd May 1993), he nurtured some of the young talent there and brought them through into the first team. He moved on to have a year at Stoke City as boss and then three years in charge back at Bristol City. He then took a post working under Liam Brady at Celtic, then the assistant manager's post with Northern Ireland under Lawrie McMenemy and then as assistant to manager Lou Macari at Huddersfield Town.
Jordan's next post was when Jordan first worked with Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth as a coach, working with Kevin Bond, who was assistant manager, to win the FA Cup in 2008. Jordan had stayed with Pompey when Redknapp left in 2004 and was re-united with his former manager in 2005, when Redknapp returned after managing Southampton.
Redknapp left Fratton Park once compensation had been agreed with Tottenham and on 7th November 2008, Jordan followed him as First Team coach linking up once more with Kevin Bond, who had recently been sacked by Bournemouth as their manager. The team changed Tottenham's fortunes very quickly, as they were in a position at the bottom of the league with "two points from eight games" when Redknapp came in. Nearly getting into Europe in his first season, he took Tottenham to the Champions League in 2010-11 and reached the quarter finals before being knocked out by Real Madrid.
However, failing to qualify for the Champions League for 2012-13 cost Redknapp his job and the backroom staff went with him in June 2012.
On leaving Spurs, Joe took some time out of the game, before linking up again with Harry Redknapp when the manager took over at QPR in November 2012, despite Jordan being touted as the new manager of Scotland. Departed from Loftus Road when Harry Redknapp stepped down as manager.