Hearts have today sold Paul Hartley to Celtic for £1.1 million, beating off fierce competition from rivals Rangers.
The Scotland midfielder, himself a Celtic supporter, has reportedly passed a medical this afternoon after the Champions made a late bid to steal him from under the noses of Rangers.
Most of us expected Hartley to leave and to be honest we’re more interested in his replacements. We already know about Ghanaian Laryea Kingston’s signing, but Hearts have also signed two more players on loan from Kaunas: Tomas Kancelskis (a defender) and Linas Pilibaitis (a striker).
Whether or not these guys fill you with excitement that’s up to you, but we may as well get behind them because they’re the future now, not Paul Hartley. Certainly in the case of Kingston, he does sound a decent player. We’ll see though.
As for Hartley, I don’t hold any grudges against the guy for wanting to a) get a last big pay cheque, b) get away from the nonsensical management at Tynecastle and c) play for the team he supports. I can totally understand his decision and wish him well with the rest of his career. He gave us all some great memories and I hope that people don’t forget that, like they seem to have done with Steven Pressley.
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Kingston sounds an able replacement. Looking forward to seeing him pull on the famous maroon. Best of luck, Paul (except against us of course, at those times you’re a traitorous canniving little weegie scumbag ;-))
It should now be Hearts of Lithuania of you an now play an all Baltic 11, can’t ya..
Hmm not sure about that but we can’t be far off I suppose!
MrH, as a Celtic fan, I appluad your professional thinking. I agree, as I did with Shaun Maloney being allowed to leave Celtic. If you have guys with their hearts (no pun intended) in another place, you are better off with them gone. I do also have sympathy for all Hearts fans with that comedy team you have running the show at Tynecastle. I hope for all of your genuine fans, and for the good of the Scottish game, you get rid of those jokers soon. While he will be sorely missed by the Hearts fans, Hartley will be a huge asset to Celtic.
Good luck, and I hope you end up runners up again this season.
Scandalous!!! Those who say…”How many good games has Hartley played this season? really haven’t got the first clue about football. As most of the Hearts Support seem to forget every lie Romanov has told, let’s go over a few of them again. “We won’t be selling our best players to the Old firm”…. Make no mistake, Steven Pressley would never have left Hearts. He was forced out. Perhaps Hartley would have gone to Celtic, but who’s to say he would have. If Romanov had put a four million tag on him, like he said he would don’t forget!!!, then there is no way he’d have gone to that mob. Skacel didn?t want to leave Hearts either. He was also compelled to leave due to the ridiculous management and team selection policies. I wish both Pressley and Hartley all the best, as they deserve everything they get. We?ll see what character the likes of Bruno, Zaliukas, Miko, and those new Kaunas aberrations have when the team goes one down. Who will the players look to lift the team through???
Thanks for the encouragement weetim! In response to you Stonesy, I would agree with you on those fans going on about PH only playing a handful of good games recently. But these people represent what most football fans are likely unfortunately: fickle and very short-term in their views. We’re all guilty of it, even your good self I seem to remember referred to Mr Hartley as “a First Division player” on quite a few occasions in his first season with us! Mindsets change very quickly. As for Pressley, although he was a hugely influential figure at the club, it’s very debatable to say he was one of our best players. In my view he was one of the poorest players in last season’s team but was worth his place purely because of his stature. As a footballer I don’t think we’ll miss him too much, but unless someone can step up to the plate in terms of leadership, Pressley the man will definitely be missed.