Paul Hartley
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| Paul Hartley | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul James Hartley | |
| Date of birth | October 19, 1976 | |
| Place of birth | Hamilton, Scotland | |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Celtic | |
| Number | 11 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1994-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-2000 1999-2000 2000-2003 2003-2007 2007- |
Hamilton Academical Millwall Raith Rovers Hibernian → Greenock Morton (loan) St. Johnstone Hearts Celtic |
47 (11) 44 (4) 50 (13) 36 (6) 3 (1) 87 (12) 118 (31) 44 (1) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2005- | Scotland | 19 (1) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Paul James Hartley (born 19 October 1976, in Hamilton) is a Scottish professional footballer, currently playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] Early career
Hartley started his career at Hamilton Academical in 1994, where he spent two seasons. Millwall paid £400,000 to gain his services in 1996 and he spent one season there, concurrently playing for the Scotland U21 team. He returned to Scotland in 1997, when he joined Raith Rovers for £150,000, before joining Hibernian in 1998, whom he helped win the First Division in 1998-99.
In season 1999-2000 he spent a short spell on loan at Greenock Morton.
[edit] St. Johnstone
Soon after Hartley joined St. Johnstone, but was unable to stop them being relegated from the Premier League.
During his time at St. Johnstone, Billy Stark started using Hartley as a central attacking midfielder. Hartley had previously played mostly as a right winger. This change of position coincided with a significant upturn in Hartley's performances.
[edit] Hearts
Hearts manager Craig Levein had noticed this improvement and signed him on a free transfer when his contract in Perth expired in 2003. Revelling in his new role, Hartley continued to improve at Tynecastle, helping Hearts to third place in the Premier League in 2003-04 and starring in their subsequent UEFA Cup run.
In January 2005, Celtic attempted to buy Hartley. Their £300,000 offer was considered significantly below Hearts valuation and was rejected. Hartley subsequently signed an improved contract with Hearts.
One of Hartley's most memorable performances was his three goals against Hearts' arch rivals Hibernian in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 2006, his first hat-trick as a professional footballer. Despite his sending off in the final, Hearts defeated Second Division outfit Gretna on penalties.
During the January 2007 transfer window Hartley was linked with a move to Rangers[1] and with a move to English Premiership side Aston Villa, now managed by Martin O'Neill, who was behind the unsuccessful Celtic bid in 2005. Hearts manager Valdas Ivanauskas responded to the speculation by insisting any transfer bids would not be appreciated.
On January 26, Hearts and Ivanauskas admitted that they had now come to the decision to sell their prize assets and both Hartley and Craig Gordon were both dropped for that weekend's match against Rangers.
[edit] Celtic
Hartley refused an offer from Rangers and signed instead for their Old Firm rivals and his boyhood heroes Celtic for £1.1 million on a two-and-a-half-year contract, with the option for a further year.[2]
Despite having a mediocre start to his Celtic career in the second half of the 2006-07 season, Hartley has enjoyed a very good 2007-08 season having been a main feature in the team throughout the year and making a major impact in the Champions League. On August 15, 2007, he scored his first goal for the Hoops in the first leg of their Champions League 3rd qualifying round tie against Russian side Spartak Moscow. He has been usually employed in a more defensive midfield role in which he has excelled at times.
[edit] International career
Hartley's performances for Hearts earned him international recognition in March 2005, when he won his first Scotland cap against Italy. He has to date earned a total of 17 caps, scoring his only international goal to date in a 3-0 win over Slovenia in October 2005. Throughout Scotland's Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Hartley was a constant alongside boyhood friend Barry Ferguson, captain at Rangers FC on the right of midfield. He started both of Scotland's famous 1-0 victories over France, in Glasgow and Paris, and was heavily praised for his all-action performance in the holding midfield role in Paris. Hartley's performance helped disrupt nearly every France attack and made several key blocks, and led club manager Gordon Strachan to start using him in the same role at Celtic with similar successful results.
[edit] Scotland goals
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 12 October 2005 | Celje, Slovenia |  Slovenia |
3–0 | 3-0 | World Cup 2006 qualifying |
[edit] Honours
- Scottish Premier League: 2007, 2008
- Scottish Cup: 2006, 2007
- Scottish First Division: 1999
[edit] Charities
The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice, located beside the River Clyde in Glasgow City Centre, provides specialist palliative care for people with life-limiting illnesses, usually cancer, and support for their families and carers.
Paul had kindly and out of the goodness of his own heart turned up to put a smile on the face of John Murray who is dying from Cancer and who is being brilliantly looked after by the nurses at The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice. John Murray’s family would like to thank everybody who has been there to help in such a difficult time.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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