Aberdeen Complete Paul Hartley Signing
Scottish Premier League (SPL) club Aberdeen FC have confirmed the signing of former Heart of Midlothian and Celtic star Paul Hartley, who has also been installed as club captain. The midfielder has become manager Mark McGhee’s sixth signing of the summer, as he restructures his squad after a dismal league campaign last season.
The 33 year-old had been allowed to leave Bristol City on a free transfer halfway through his contract after failing to settle in England; his family having remained in Scotland. He had looked set for a return to former club Hearts before that deal fell through as Hearts manager Jim Jefferies has decided to focus on recruiting more attack-minded players. Hartley instead arrived at Aberdeen’s Loughborough training facilities in England to meet with McGhee and director of football Willie Miller. Having been impressed by what he heard, the midfielder decided to pledge his future to the Dons.
Hartley told his new club’s official website: "Aberdeen have always been a massive club and the challenge is to get them back up there. Hopefully I bring a winning mentality. The big thing is to challenge for honours. It's been far too long since Aberdeen won any silverware." He added that: "Hearts was an option. But as soon as I spoke to Mark and Willie I knew I was working with genuine people who really wanted to bring me to the club. They sold the club."
Younger players
The midfielder is also keen to work with younger players at the club, including Fraser Fyvie and Peter Pawlett, and hopes to aid their development by providing guidance and sharing his vast experience. He said: "The younger players have potential, they are looking for that experienced player to come in and help them and improve them. Hopefully I can bring that to the team. I have played at a very good level over the last few years.”
Having failed to secure a finish in the top half of the table for the first time since the 2002-03 season, the Dons almost became embroiled in a relegation battle after ending up in ninth place. However, Hartley is aiming his sights higher than a return to the top six. He said: "People talk about the top six, but we have got to aim higher than that. Hopefully we can look for silverware."
Summer recruits
Hartley joins defender Rory McArdle, strikers Josh Magennis and Scott Vernon, goalkeeper Mark Howard and midfielder Yoann Folly as McGhee’s summer recruits. Had he instead made a return to Hearts, it would have seen a remarkable turnaround from Hartley’s last stint with the club. Towards the end of his four-year spell with the Edinburgh team, he had participated in a press conference along with goalkeeper Craig Gordon and club captain Steven Pressley in October 2006, where ‘the Riccarton Three’ (named after the club’s training ground - the setting for the media event) claimed the squad were at unrest over owner Vladimir Romanov's interference in team matters. The trio all left the club within months, Hartley and Pressley making the move to Celtic and Gordon signing for English Premier League (EPL) team Sunderland.
Hartley has played for several clubs throughout Scotland and England over his career, securing honours along his way. At Hibernian, he was part of the team which won the Scottish First Division title in 1999, securing promotion to the SPL. At Hearts, he won the Scottish Cup in 2006. His most successful club spell came with Celtic, where he lifted the SPL title twice, along with the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup. At the international level, he has played 25 times for Scotland, and played in the team’s most recent match against the Czech Republic in March.
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