Hartley's jam

GERRY BRITTON

OK, SO we are not expected to fully appreciate the depths that Dr Aldrin must have fallen to when, after losing two out of three coin tosses, it was fated that Neil Armstrong, and not the far more memorably named Buzz, would be given the opportunity to achieve immortality by describing giant leaps and small steps, while waving his country’s flag on the lunar landscape.

And it is nigh impossible to imagine the despondent anguish that would consume a punter on the realisation that the Lotto numbers dutifully selected each week eventually dropped out of Lancelot on the one Saturday evening that they forgot to put them on.

So how could we hope to comprehend the turmoil and despair experienced by a free-scoring Scottish midfielder, playing his best football and at the peak of his career, who saw his dream move to his boyhood idols collapse in the final hours of the recent transfer window?

Hearts star Paul Hartley may have spent his childhood days fantasising over running out to a packed Celtic Park, resplendent in the famous green and white hoops, but even missing out on a transfer to the current SPL champions cannot diminish the Tynecastle playmaker’s feelgood factor.

"Of course I was disappointed when the deal didn’t go through after Hearts turned down the bids that Celtic put in for me," Hartley openly admits. "Every player dreams of playing at the highest level possible, and for Scottish players there is no bigger platform than joining either side of the Old Firm." And if you were educated in the west of Scotland then a Saint prefix to your school’s name will ensure that your Saturday worship takes place at Parkhead rather than Ibrox.

It would have been understandable if Hartley had reacted to this letdown by throwing his dummy out of the pram and indulging in a fit of superstar-petted-lip-trailing on his subsequent reappearance in the maroon jersey of the Jambos. Instead the gusto and zeal with which he has performed in Hearts’ subsequent matches has seen the Gorgie faithful wholeheartedly singing his praises, as Hartley has continued in the rich vein of form which has seen him deservedly force his way into Walter Smith’s inaugural squad selection for the national side.

"It was an amazing experience being involved in last week’s Manchester training camp," says Hartley. "Everything about the trip was excellent. The coaching from Walter, Tommy (Burns) and Ally (McCoist). The top-class facilities and the standard of play in the training sessions made it a joy to be a part of."

There seems to be a mutual appreciation number going on between Hartley and the man who gets more smiles off Sue Barker than Sir Cliff Richard. McCoist said recently that Hartley was the "stand-out" among the players being put through their paces at Manchester United’s Carrington training complex. "Aye, you’re always going to get a laugh wi’ Coisty, but the drills he gave us for crossing and finishing were superb," offers Hartley in return.

Hartley has every right to be upbeat and optimistic about his life at the present time. After a career spent threatening to arrive as a fully-fledged Scottish soccer VIP, this season has finally seen him fulfil the undoubted promise that the many managers he has served under knew he had at his disposal.

"I must admit that at 28, I felt that time was running out for me to make a real impact on the game," says Hartley. "I was always hopeful of being included in one of Berti’s squad’s, but other players kept seeming tae get the nod in front of me."

It is hard to comprehend that Vogts handed out caps to 76 different players and that Hartley was not one of them, despite the fact he had been a vital cog in Hearts’ charge to third place in last season’s SPL, and an intrinsic element in the Jambos’ respectable foray into the UEFA Cup group stages this term.

Such was the potential that many inside the game believed simmered within Hartley, that by the age of 23 he had acquired an accumulative transfer value of just under £1m.

Jimmy Nicholl splashed out £400,000 of administration-bound Millwall’s coffers to lure a 19-year-old Hartley south from Hamilton Accies. And then player and manager subsequently reacquainted themselves at Stark’s Park just twelve months later when the majority of Nicholl’s Scottish purchases at The Den quickly followed him back up the A1 to Kirkcaldy. A move to Alex McLeish’s Franck Sauzee-inspired revival at Easter Road gave Hartley the opportunity to banish a personal demon with the capital side. "I had been an S form signing for Hibs under Alex Miller," Hartley reveals. "When I left school I was overlooked by Miller but Iain Munro gave me my chance at Hamilton and for that I will be eternally grateful," he adds.

After two frustrating seasons on the periphery at Easter Road, it was his relocation to McDiarmid Park and a readjustment in his on-field positioning that finally saw Hartley make the impact he had been threatening for many years.

"Before Billy Stark took over at Saints I had always been a wide player or centre-forward, but Starky thought otherwise and moved me into the middle of the park," explains Hartley. This positional change reinvigorated Hartley’s career; the increased involvement in midfield was the perfect environment for his undoubted ability on the ball, allied with his excellent fitness levels.

And Hartley has quickly picked up his mentor’s penchant for majestically timed runs into the box to convert any opportunities that come his way.

This season he heads the Tynecastle scoring charts with nine SPL goals so far, a third of all his side’s league counters. "Starky and the man who brought me to Tynecastle, Craig Levein, both impressed upon me the need to increase my work rate if I was to be successful in a midfield role," he continues.

Thankfully for Hearts, Hartley’s self- discipline has also improved, the petulant and short-fused temperament of old is now replaced with an assurance and focused determination that has helped to set him apart this term as the most important element in his side’s playing structure.

While his recent involvement with the national side is cited as his career highlight to date, I was quick to remind him of my own cherished memory of Paul on the field of play, from the month we spent together as strike partners at Raith Rovers.

At the now departed Boghead Stadium during the Dumbarton monsoon season, Paul’s lightning pace allowed him to retrieve one of my misplaced passes with a desperate lunge, the momentum of which threw him off the field of play and landed him head-first into a two-feet deep puddle of sodden mud, much to the amusement of all present.

"Everything I’ve done in the game and that’s all you can remember," he rages with mock indignation.

Hartley’s emergence as the consummate midfield prototype for the modern game has rendered him both unforgettable and irreplaceable to his adoring followers in the Tynecastle grandstands.

Taken from the Scotsman