Paul Hartley

Paul Hartley (born 19 October 1976) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.

He is the manager of Scottish League One side Cove Rangers.

As a player, Hartley won trophies with both Hearts and Celtic, and earned 25 caps for the Scotland national team.

He also played for Hamilton Academical, Millwall, Raith Rovers, Hibernian, Greenock Morton, St Johnstone, Bristol City and Aberdeen during his career.

As a manager, he guided Alloa Athletic to successive promotions.

Millwall paid £380,000 to gain his services in July 1996; this remained Hamilton's biggest sale until James McCarthy moved to Wigan Athletic for an initial £1.2 million in 2009.

Hartley returned to Scotland a year later, joining Raith Rovers for £150,000, before moving to 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 manager Sandy Clark, who had previously managed Hartley at Hamilton, signed Hartley for a £200,000 fee in 2000.

Billy Stark, who succeeded Clark in 2001, started using Hartley as a central attacking midfielder during the 2001–02 season.

This change of position from his previous role as a right winger, coincided with a significant upturn in his performances, but it was not enough to prevent St Johnstone's relegation to the First Division.

Hartley's personal success continued as he was nominated for the SPFA First Division player of the year award in 2003, but his team failed to gain promotion back to the SPL in 2003.

Hearts signed Hartley on a free transfer when his contract with St Johnstone expired in the summer of 2003.

He helped Hearts to third place in the Premier League in 2003–04 and starring in their subsequent UEFA Cup run.

Hartley was also shortlisted for Scottish Football Writers award in the same season and the SPFA Players' award in 2004–05.

In January 2005, Celtic attempted to buy Hartley, but their £300,000 offer was considered significantly below Hearts valuation and was rejected.

Hartley subsequently signed an improved contract with Hearts.

He was voted as SPL Player of the Year in 2005–06.

Hartley scored three goals against archrivals Hibernian in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 2006, his first hat-trick as a professional footballer.

Despite his sending off, Hearts defeated Second Division outfit Gretna on penalties in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final.

During the January 2007 transfer window, Hartley was linked with Rangers and Premier League club Aston Villa.

Hearts manager Valdas Ivanauskas initially responded to the speculation by insisting any transfer bids would not be appreciated.

On 26 January, however, Hearts and Ivanauskas admitted that they had now come to the decision to sell their prize assets; both Hartley and Craig Gordon were both dropped for that weekend's match against Rangers.

Hartley signed for Celtic for £1.1 million on a two-and-a-half-year contract, with the option for a further year, in January 2007.

On 15 August 2007, he scored his first goal for the club in their Champions League 3rd qualifying round tie against Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow.

Gordon Strachan usually employed Hartley, who had played as an attacking midfielder for Hearts, in a more defensive role.

Playing in the centre of midfield with Barry Robson, Hartley helped Celtic to their third league title in a row.

Hartley featured less for Celtic during the 2008–09 season and was released by new manager Tony Mowbray on 1 July 2009.

After his release by Celtic, Hartley signed for Bristol City.

Hartley played his first match for the club in a friendly against Dutch team Ajax before scoring on his competitive debut in a 2–2 draw away to Preston North End.

After citing a desire to return to Scotland, Hartley was made available for free transfer by the club in July 2010.

He was heavily linked with a return to former club Hearts, but they dropped their interest in Hartley after he refused to distance himself from criticism of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov during his first stint with the club.

He then moved to Dundee, who he helped win promotion to the Scottish top flight in 2014.

Hartley was sacked by Dundee in March 2017.

He was then appointed by Falkirk, but he left this position after less than one year.

After signing 17 players in three months, he was unable to register a league win in the first nine games of the season and he departed with the club in 23rd position in the table.

Hartley was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

Hartley started his senior career at Hamilton Academical, where he spent two seasons.

Hartley joined Cove Rangers in July 2019 and led the club to two promotions before his move to Hartlepool.

His time at Hartlepool United was shortlived.