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Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived the dream

Submitted by seestyle » Fri 08-Nov-2024, 15:33 Subject Area: General Keywords: Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th, Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th, Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th, Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th, Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th, Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th, Paul Hartley The Bhoy who lived th	0 member ratings

Paul Hartley may never be written into the folklore of Celtic greats. The chances of his name ever been sung from the stands in the same breath as Johnstone, Tully, Murdoch, Hall and Hay are slim. However, Hartley is a man who dreamt of wearing the hoops and through footballs backwater achieved that aim with blood, sweat and tears.Born in Hamilton, Hartley began his career with his hometown club in 1994 as a right winger and stayed with them for two years. He then went south for a year to Millwall, before returning home to have spells with Raith Rovers, Hibernian and Greenock Morton.However, it was at his next club, St. Johnstone, that Hartley began to realise his potential. In season 2001-02, manager, Billy Stark, moved him from the wing to a more central position. Here his performances began to improve, although it wasnt enough to save Hank Aaron Jersey St. Johnstone from relegation at the end of the season. That form continued into the following campaign where he was nominated for First Division player of the year and moved to Hearts under freedom of contract.Hartleys rise continued in Gorgie where he began to establish himself as a goalscoring midfielder. His popularity increased amongst the Hearts faithful, especially for his consistent combative displays against Hibernian in the Edinburgh derby. In 2005, Paul was first linked with his boyhood heroes. However, Celtic and Hearts were miles apart in their valuation and the player signed a new contract to stay where he was.The following season was the most memorable of his career to date, where a hat-trick against Hibernian in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup gave Hearts a final berth. Despite being sent off in the final against Gretna, the Jambos won on penalties and Hartley had the first medal of his career.With Paul now reaching his Jose Ramirez Jersey peak and becoming a regular in the Scotland set-up, the Old Firm vultures began to circulate above Tynecastle. Vladimir Romanov had Hearts in disarray off the pitch and in January 2007 it looked as if Rangers had won the battle to sign the player. However, in the knowledge of where Hartleys loyalties lay, Gordon Strachan hijacked the deal and Pauls dreams came true, as he joined Celtic in a 1.1 million transfer.Hartleys Celtic career got off to a shaky start, as it appeared the player had been bought as a utility man to fill in wherever nece sary. His form dipped, but despite this Celtic retained the league at a canter and Paul won his second Scottish Cup medal after a 1-0 victory over Dunfermline in the final.Pauls luck turned in the opening game of the 2007-08 season away to Spartak Moscow in a Champions League qualifier. A splendid bullet header in the Luzhniki Stadium earned Celtic a crucial away goal that helped them gain acce s to the lucrative group stages of the competition. Hartley joked his goal was worth 10million, and on the back of this he put in a string of solid performances as a holding midfielder.His change of role most likely came about due to the purchase of Scott Brown. With both players known for their energetic, box-to-box abilities, it was always likely Hartley would be the one that would have to adapt as he began to enter the twilight of his career. Adapt he did, and Paul was in the side more often than he was out.Never one to hide, Hartley was often the player seen to be hara sing and shot-blocking, especially during Old Firm meetings. Pauls most prominent time in the team came towards the end of his first full season at Celtic. With Rangers in an almost una sailable position in the league and Scott Brown suffering from lack of form (due to family tragedy), Hartley formed a midfield partnership with Barry Robson that was the catalyst to saving Celtics season.Seven wins from the remaining seven games, including two titanic Old Firm victories, meant Celtic had won three-in-a-row. The final day victory away to Dundee United, amidst Eddie Rosario Jersey a Rangers collapse and the tragic death of Tommy Burns, gave testament to the point that Celtic were a resilient team and Hartleys contribution had been at the forefront of this achievement.His final season in the hoops was no where near Jorge Soler Jersey as memorable as the previous. As age commenced to creep up on Paul and speed vacated his legs, he found himself demoted back to the position of squad player. Hartleys place in the team was the subject of heated debate amongst supporters. He was pushed further down the pecking order as Strachan went with the head-scratching decision to overload the team with midfielders.As Celtic went through a curse of injuries in the full back positions, Hartley was asked to fill in at left back. Never one to moan, he displayed his profe sionalism and gave it his best effort. It was just a stop-gap however, and Celtics season ended with a disastrous European campaign and the surrendering of the League title. The highlight of the season had been a 2-0 victory in the CIS cup against Rangers, in which Hartley had played 72 minutes in his more favoured central midfield role.This victory was unable to mask over the cracks though. Strachans complacency had cascaded its way down to the team and he ultimately walked, which put the death nail in Hartleys Celtic coffin. With his contract expired, Tony Mowbray decided not to renew and Paul was snapped up by Championship outfit, Bristol City.Despite this, Hartley left on good terms and showed his affection for the club by saying: I won every trophy that there was to play for. All good things come to an end. What most sticks in my memory is the game at Tannadice in the last game of season 2007-08 where we clinched the league. I think thats probably the highlight, but just being there for two-and-a-half years was a special time for me, to live the dream as they say.When youre growing up and you support a team, you always dream of playing for them. I was very fortunate that Gordon Strachan gave me the opportunity to live that dream and I just savoured every day I was at the club. Ill always keep my eye open for the results at Celtic and come back to watch the games when I can.Paul Hartley was always a player that had to apply application and hard work to make it in the footballing world. His desire took him from journeyman to his boyhood heroes. He will still hold certain aspirations. Bristol City are Premiership candidates and Scotland Fred McGriff Jersey are in the mix for World Cup qualification. However, when you look back at Hartleys Celtic career his personality didnt shrink to fit the jersey. He was just a Celtic fan that lived the dream and earned the right to pull on the hoops. Hail Hail and farewell! Paul Hartley.

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