Stars of the Noughties: No 7, Paul Hartley

A CAREER of two halves. Paul Hartley owes two league titles, three cup wins and 25 Scotland Caps to the keen eye of one former manager.

The winger’s career was on the downward spiral after a promising start had stalled with poor spells at Millwall and Hibs. St Johnstone picked him up and Billy Stark experimented with Hartley as a central, attacking midfielder.

The transformation was remarkable. Overnight Hartley went from a run-of-the-mill wide player to a tireless, box-to-box midfielder.

He moved to Hearts, the highlight being a hat-trick in the all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup semi-final where he stuck it to his former club Hibs.

In 2007, he signed for boyhood heroes Celtic and finished his career as Aberdeen club captain before moving into management with Alloa.