Back to the wall at Alloa but Paul Hartley holds belief

Hartley's first duties are of the scouting variety, and not necessarily for players. He has already started the hunt for grass pitches, having identified one of the reasons why he has been asked to lead Alloa out of the Third Division at the first attempt. A dreadful away record helped condemn the club to a first taste of the bottom tier for 13 years.

Their relegation play-off loss illustrated this point. The damage was done in an away defeat to Annan Athletic and the Wasps could not rectify the damage on their own synthetic pitch at Recreation Park.

Within minutes of the final whistle chairman Mike Mulraney was on the phone to Hartley, at the start of a process which led to the former Aberdeen player's surprise appointment as player/manager at Alloa Athletic.

"Our big problem is away from home," said Hartley, who had clearly already done his homework. "We have not won on grass for 13 months. We have to address that. Everything in pre-season will be done on the grass. I have looked into everything."

The devil is in the detail. Hartley cannot be faulted for his preparations as he begins a new career in management. His eyes are wide open. Hartley began his own playing career if not quite in the basement, then at a financially imperilled Hamilton Academical. His own 345,000 transfer to Millwall in 1996 was credited with handing the club a lifeline.

"I am starting all over again," he acknowledged. "It's like when I started at Hamilton and worked my way up, and took a few knocks on the way. It's the same for the management side of it.

"It might not happen for me but if I keep believing in myself hopefully I can make it as a manager."

"Look at some of the top managers who have cut their teeth at a lower level," he added. "The best example is obviously Sir Alex Ferguson, who started at East Stirling.

"I look at Craig Levein, at Cowdenbeath, and Mixu (Paatelainen] and Danny Lennon. I spoke to Craig Brown, who started at Clyde."

According to Hartley, when he asked Brown's advice his first words to him were, are you mad? Then his manager at Aberdeen made some more constructive observations, telling him that he should take the opportunity and see whether management is for him or not.Archie Knox, Brown's assistant, was only 28 when he took the plunge at Forfar Athletic, while Ferguson was 32 when he took over at East Stirlingshire. Hartley, now 34, might need to make up for lost time.

"I don't think you can pick and choose," said Hartley. "Some people are fortunate that they can start at a bigger club. But I am delighted. I am really looking forward to it. People say it is a part-time job, but it won't be. It will be full-time, I know that. I will be here most days trying to get players in and arranging things."

It was, someone quipped, the shortest retirement in history. Only last week Hartley announced that he was walking away from the second year of his contract at Aberdeen.

He had already informed Brown that he feared he could no longer handle the physical demands of the Scottish Premier League.

"I felt I wasn't up for it," he reflected yesterday. "My body was not right and I felt I could not cope with the demands anymore. I was honest with him. I said I didn't think I was helping the team, or him."

Hartley hasn't hung up his boots, however. He is prepared to play on for Alloa, giving guidance on the park as well as from the dug-out.

"There are games where I probably won't play and others where I will feel I maybe have to play," he said.

He aims to appoint another experienced player-coach while he has already recruited an assistant in Paddy Connolly, his old friend from St Johnstone days. He has given up a scouting role with Fulham to join Hartley at Alloa.

It is all slightly surreal, but then Hartley isn't Alloa's only connection to the big time. Above Hartley hung a framed picture of John White, the man known as the Ghost. White, who moved from Alloa to Falkirk before winning the double with Tottenham Hotspur in 1961, died tragically in 1964, after being hit by lightning while playing golf.

More recently, Terry Christie led the club to Scottish Challenge Cup success in 1999.

Hartley is realistic about the length of time he will be at Alloa. If he is a success, then it won't be long. If he is a failure, then again it won't be long.

Mulraney was evasive when asked about Hartley's length of contract, though it is understood he will operate on a rolling one-year deal.

"We are not naive," said Mulraney with a smile. "Once he takes us into the SPL we know he'll want to move on."

Hartley is ready to roll his sleeves up. He has time for only four days' holiday. Then there are pre-season matches to be arranged. A tournament in Oban is also on the schedule, as are Stirlingshire Cup commitments.

While he might not be expected to lead the club into the SPL, Hartley is under no illusions. "It doesn't matter how many are here, there will be demands placed on me by the Alloa fans," he said. "And I will hear them too. But I've got thick skin."

He is heading to Largs this summer to begin his coaching badges, but he is aware that there are other qualities he will need.As well as persevering in the face of the inevitable critics, he will also be required to understand the demands placed on players not blessed with his own talent. "Sometimes it's not about badges, it's the man-management side of it and getting the players playing for you," he said.

"Hopefully they will enjoy it. I know a lot of the guys will be coming straight from work, which I have not had experience of before.

"It's not going to be a punishment for them, coming here to play football."