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Fullname: Paul Hartley
Born: 19 October 1976
Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
Height: 5.08
Weight: 10.00
Signed: 20 January 2001 (From Hearts, £1.1m est)
Left: 2 July 2009
Position: Midfielder (holding/defensive) and occasionally full-back
Squad No.:
Debut: Livingston 1-4 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 4 Feb 2007
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 25
International Goals: 1
Biog 
Paul Hartley signed for £1.1 Million on the last day of the 2007 Jan Transfer window.
Paul Hartley’s transfer was a bit of surprise to many. A popular figure at Hearts, he made himself a successful attacking midfielder with the bottle to take the battle to the opposition and dish out his aggression whenever he wanted. The latter obviously made him unpopular with opposition, and no less with many Celtic fans. Some nasty incidents in recent matches v Hearts had made him an easy villain. Nevertheless, he was still a Celtic fan at heart, and whilst at Millwall he openly stated in an interview his hope to play for Celtic at one point in his career. Belatedly he got that wish when Gordon Strachan signed him for Celtic.
There were sections of the support who thought he’d been signed by the manager to peev off the support (Gordon Strachan seemed to do this with some of his signings and comments). In any case, Hartley was here at Celtic and a poor start meant many were questioning his purchase. He was ultimately brought in as a squad player for Celtic and was to fit in whenever required, but there were those who were already opining in his early days that he was not going to fit in anywhere and was surplus to requirements.
The turning point for Paul Hartley was scoring the away goal v Spartak Moscow in the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers. A cracking bullet header and a fine performance from him, gave Celtic the advantage that helped to carry the First Team through to the group stages of the competition. With that goal he’d paid back everyone and found a place in the hearts of many fans. From then on in, things changed and the support were very much behind him, and in return he gave a string of very good efficient performances.
A big mistake the manager made with Hartley was to change his game from a dynamic attacking player to a defensive holding midfielder. That in itself blunted what was his best asset whilst with Hearts, and it was a move that baffled the support and likely Hartley also. Nevertheless, in a mark of his genuine professionalism, Hartley never complained and always got on with the job. This was to mark his whole time at Celtic and he did whatever was needed, something that the support all respected. Some roles didn’t work out for him like fitting in temporarily at the full-back positions (due to his lack of pace) but he still gave his best shot as he knew that he was here to be a squad player and help wherever he could.
He wasn’t expected to play as important a role as he did for Celtic, but for the desperate run-in to the league title in 2007/08, he cemented a central partnership role with Barry Robson that was to be the lynch-pin in the First Team that won seven games in a row to take the title against the odds. He was imposing and solid, something that the more expensive transfers (e.g. Donati) were unable to be, and Hartley put them in the shade. He was the unsung hero of the season as a whole and well deserving of the plaudits that came his way.
Must add that the success for Celtic fed through to some great performances for Scotland by Hartley (included matches against France and Italy), and as a player he had reached his peak.
However, age was creeping up and 2008/09 was below par for him. He couldn’t keep up with play and wasn’t what Celtic needed. As ever he was professional but the side was being poorly managed and in any case this was expected to be his final season. Many a time he was used as a make-shift in roles when there were injuries to others, which never helped him find any consistency.
His contract was not renewed at the end of the 2008/09 with the change of the manager after the departure of Gordon Strachan. He would move on to Bristol City in the summer of 2009 and would quickly establish himself as a fan’s favourite among the Ashton Gate faithful.
Overall, football’s surprising and no more so than for Celtic with Hartley. From being a bete noir of the Celtic support (prior to arriving) to becoming a bit of a hero, it was quite a transformation.
In time, we’ll see him again at Celtic but as a supporter rather than a player and very welcome he will be too.
Post-Celtic
He moved into management, and overall had a sterling record, which included:
- 2011/12: Third Division Winners (Alloa)
- 2012/13: First Division Play-Off Winners (Alloa)
- 2013/14: Championship Winners (Dundee)
- 2014/15: Premiership top half finish (Dundee)
- 2019/20: League Two Winners (Cove)
- 2021/22: League One Winners (Cove)
A poor stint at Falkirk & at Hartlepool were the only notable disappointments.
[…]
Playing Career
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish Cup | League cup | Other | ||||
| Celtic | 31/01/2007 | 02/07/2009 | £1,100,000 (left on a free transfer) |
53 (9) | 3 | 6 (1) | 0 | 3 (1) | 0 | 12 (1) | 1 |
| Hearts | 01/06/2003 | 31/01/2007 | Free | 113 (5) | 31 | 11 (0) | 3 | 7 (1) | 3 | 10 (2) | 1 |
| St Johnstone | 05/07/2000 | 01/06/2003 | £200,000 | 80 (7) | 12 | 4 (0) | 0 | 5 (1) | 2 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Hibernian | 23/12/1998 | 05/07/2000 | £225,000 | 20 (16) | 6 | 2 (3) | 1 | 1 (1) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Raith | 22/08/1997 | 23/12/1998 | £150,000 | 48 (2) | 13 | 3 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Millwall | 04/07/1996 | 22/08/1997 | £400,000 | 35 (9) | 4 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Hamilton | 09/09/1994 | 04/07/1996 | Signed | 39 (8) | 11 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Mill United BC | 01/08/1993 | 09/09/1994 | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Totals | 388 (56) | 80 | 26 (4) | 4 | 19 (5) | 7 | 24 (3) | 2 | |||
| goals / game | 0.18 | 0.13 | 0.29 | 0.07 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours as Celtic Player
Scottish Premier League
Scottish Cup
Scottish League Cup
Pictures
KStreet
Quotes
“I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m a Celtic supporter, so you can imagine what this means to me!”
Paul Hartley (Jan 2007)
Following are two Q&A’s taken from an interview in the Scotsman Newspaper with the Chairman of his old club (Vladimir Romanov – Hearts) (Jan 2007)
Q: Did you get to the bottom of the conflict between senior Hearts players and Eduard Malofeev?
VR: There was no conflict whatsoever, there was a banal betrayal. Players sold themselves for the striped shirts they were promised; they decided that these were so valuable that they could allow themselves to behave the way they did.
Q: Is that a reference to Celtic shirts?
VR: I don’t know. To prison uniforms
Hartley v Celtic: top controversial moments
Hartley was a very controversial figures in Hearts v Celtic games, when he played against us!!!
HEARTS 0 CELTIC 3 February 8 2004
Ordered off in disgrace. First yellow card for swinging an arm at Lennon then followed it up with a lunge at his new Celtic captain.
HEARTS 2 CELTIC 3 January 1 2006
Three-game ban for kicking Ross Wallace off the ball. Had already been booked, but stayed on the field after the referee missed the incident.
HEARTS 3 CELTIC 0 April 30 2006
Caused a rumpus when he took a swift free-kick while the Celtic wall was being organised. His shot sailed past a startled Artur Boruc for Hearts’ second goal.
© 2007, Newsquest Media Group
The Herald
| KDS Honours |
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| MOTM Winners 2007-08 | ||
| 23-Sep-07 | Hibs 3-2 Celtic | SPL |
| 13-Apr-08 | Motherwell 1-4 Celtic | SPL |
| MOTM Winners 2008-09 | ||
| 16-Nov-08 | Hamilton 1-2 Celtic | SPL |
| 13-Dec-08 | Celtic 1-1 Hearts | SPL |
| 17-May-09 | Hibernian 0-0 Celtic | SPL |
