Nottingham Forest Harewood is a product of the Nottingham Forest youth system, and made his league debut in 1998. In the same year, he acquired experience abroad with a successful loan spell at
Haka of the Finnish
Veikkausliiga, winning both the Finnish championship and the
Finnish Cup. In 1999, he had a further loan spell with
Ipswich Town, scoring one goal against
Bury in six appearances. Harewood went on to forge a reputation as one of the most lethal strikers in the
First Division. He scored 51 goals in 124 league games and 58 substitute appearances for Forest and also scored four goals in 23 cup appearances. However, Harewood's contract was due to expire in summer 2004 and having been offered a worse contract than he was already on, rejected it and decided to leave. After signing for West Ham, new manager
Alan Pardew hoped that the powerful striker could have a similar effect on the Hammers
promotion hopes the following season. Harewood was the top scorer for West Ham in
2004–05 with 23 goals in all competitions. He returned to top flight football following West Ham's playoff victory at the end of the 2004–05 season, and the
2005–06 season saw Harewood spearheading Pardew's Premiership attack. He scored 14 league goals, including the first top flight
hat-trick of the season in a 4–0 home victory against
Aston Villa and also put West Ham in front after just 52 seconds against
Manchester United also at Upton Park. Harewood became one of the top scoring strikers of the 2005–2006 season and scored the winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final against
Middlesbrough. Harewood collected an FA Cup runners-up medal with West Ham that season, after they lost on penalties following a 3–3 draw with Liverpool. He was also the club's top Premier League goalscorer with 14 goals. Following a torrid run of results for West Ham, including a defeat to League 1 side
Chesterfield in the League Cup, Harewood scored a dramatic last-minute winner against title-hopefuls
Arsenal in November 2006. This subsequently resulted in a highly emotional confrontation between the two managers. In May 2007, Harewood confirmed that he would leave West Ham in the summer after falling out of favour at the club. In July, it was confirmed that Harewood was in talks at Aston Villa's training ground.
Aston Villa Harewood joined
Aston Villa on 17 July 2007 for a fee of £4 million and signing a three-year deal. Harewood said, ''"I was all set to sign [for Wigan] on the Monday when I got a phone call saying Martin O'Neill wanted to speak to me. I might have had a better chance of getting into Wigan's first team, but, with no disrespect to them, when Martin O'Neill phones you up asking you to join a massive club like Aston Villa, and he's explaining what he wants to do and how he wants to go about it, that sold it to me."''. Sheffield United and Middlesbrough.
Loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers He eventually left Villa on loan, joining
Wolverhampton Wanderers of the
Championship for the remainder of the season on 23 March 2009. He played five games for Wolves without scoring before returning to Villa Park.
Loan to Newcastle United On 24 September 2009, Harewood joined
Championship side
Newcastle United on a three-month loan until December. He made his debut on 26 September 2009 in a 4–0 win over
Ipswich Town, coming on as a substitute for
Nile Ranger in the 64th minute. His first goal for the Magpies came, in a 1–1 draw, against
Queens Park Rangers on 30 September 2009 in the following game. He then scored a brace to help Newcastle win 3–0 against
Swansea City on 28 November 2009 and keep the Magpies top of the table. He scored in a 2–2 away draw at
Barnsley. His fifth of the season came on 20 December 2009, scoring the opening goal in the 2–0 win
Tyne–Tees derby at
St James' Park. Following his return to Villa from Newcastle, Harewood was injured and unable to play for the rest of the season. Aston Villa decided not to renew his contract at the end of the season.
Blackpool Harewood joined up with newly promoted
Premier League side
Blackpool in early August 2010 and soon entered talks with the club about a permanent deal.
Phil Sproson, Harewood's agent, later revealed that talks had broken down between the two parties and that Harewood would not be joining the club. Despite this, the player and agent re-opened talks with the club and on 11 August he signed a two-year deal with Blackpool. Two days later he scored twice as Blackpool marked their Premier League debut with a 4–0 win over
Wigan Athletic at the
DW Stadium – their first top division game since 1971. On 10 November, he scored on his return to Villa Park in a 3–2 defeat to Aston Villa. It was his fourth league goal of the campaign, which made him Blackpool's top scorer. He was released by the club on 25 May 2011.
Loan to Barnsley Harewood joined
Barnsley on loan on 26 February 2011, until the end of the
2010–11 season. He scored his first goals for Barnsley in a 2–1 win over
Scunthorpe United on 8 March 2011.
Guangzhou R&F On 8 July 2011, Harewood signed a six-month contract with
China League One club Shenzhen Phoenix (the club's name later changed to
Guangzhou R&F). He made his debut on 9 July in a 2–1 home victory against
Yanbian Baekdu Tigers, coming on as a substitute for
Wen Chao in the 55th minute. Harewood scored 4 goals in 10 appearances as Guangzhou R&F finished second place in the League One and won promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.
Return to Nottingham Forest After trialling with his boyhood club, Nottingham Forest, Harewood signed a four-month contract and began his second stint with the club. Harewood played six games, none on the winning side, in all competitions for Forest without scoring before his contract ended. After his departure from Forest, Harewood trained with Sheffield Wednesday with a view to signing permanently.
Return to Barnsley On 14 August 2012, it was announced that Harewood would be returning to Barnsley on a one-year deal, following an injury to Egyptian striker
Mido. On 17 May 2013, Barnsley manager
David Flitcroft announced that Harewood's contract would not be renewed with the club.
Bristol City On 20 July 2013, Harewood featured as a trialist for
Bristol City in a pre-season friendly against
Forest Green Rovers at
The New Lawn. and featured again on 29 July against
Weston Super Mare, scoring a first half brace in a 3–1 win. On 2 August 2013,
Bristol City announced they had signed Harewood as a free transfer until the end of the
2013–14 season. He scored his first and only goal for the club in a 2–1 defeat to
Brentford on 22 October 2013.
Hartlepool United Harewood signed for
Hartlepool United on 13 January 2014 until the end of the season, following his release from Bristol City. On 1 March scored his first goal for Hartlepool United. Breaking from the halfway line, he scored their third goal in 3–0 win against
Torquay United. In May 2015, Hartlepool announced that Harewood was being released by the club at the end of the 2014–15 season.
Nuneaton Town Harewood signed for
Nuneaton Town on a one-year contract, on 10 July 2015. ==International career==