Paul Hartley

Paul Hartley

Personal information
Full name	Paul James Hartley
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Celtic
Number	11
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 September 2007

Paul James Hartley (born 19 October 1976, in Hamilton) is a Scottish professional footballer, currently playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.

Club career

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.

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, then manager Billy Stark played Hartley as a central midfielder, the player having previously played mostly as a peripheral winger. This change of position coincided with a significant upturn in Hartley's performances.

Hearts

and he returned to top-level competition in 2003, signing for Hearts on a free transfer when his contract in Perth expired. 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, however their £300,000 offer was considered significantly below Hearts valuation and was quickly 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. However, he was sent off in the final, although Hearts eventually emerged victorious, defeating Second Division outfit Gretna on penalties.

During the January 2007 transfer window Hartley was linked with a move to Rangers 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 manger 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.

Celtic

Hartley eventually refused Rangers and signed for their arch 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 on the January 31 2007 On August 15, he scored his first goal for the Hoops in the first leg of their Champions League 3rd round qualifier against Russian league leaders Spartak Moscow..

International career

Hartley's performances earned him international recognition in March 2005, when he won his first Scotland cap against Italy. He has subsequently earned a further 10 caps, scoring his first international goal in Scotland's 3-0 win over Slovenia in October 2005.

Monsterous Penis

Paul Hartley is in possesion of what is known as in the adult industry as a monsterous penis with it being 14inches in lenght and 10 inches around. Alex McLeish described it as "like three tins of soup on top of each other with an elephants heart on top".

Honours

• Scottish Premier League: 2006-07
• Scottish Cup: 2006, 2007
• Scottish First Division: 1998-99

External links

• Paul Hartley at Soccerbase