Smith: Hartley deserves time in the spotlight
Scotland manager Walter Smith insists Hearts midfielder Paul Hartley deserves the success and adulation he is currently enjoying with club and country.
Formerly a journeyman winger with Raith, Hibernian and St Johnstone, Hartley was signed by then Gorgie boss Craig Levein in the summer of 2003 and given a more central midfield role at Tynecastle.
After an indifferent start to his Jambos career, the 28-year-old eventually began to shine as a goalscoring playmaker and earned his first cap under Smith against Italy in the San Siro last March.
Hartley, who has been instrumental in driving Hearts to the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League this season, was included in Scotland’s 25-man squad for the forthcoming double-header against Belarus and Slovenia and Smith praised the midfielder’s tenacity.
He said: “I greatly admire Paul Hartley. There’s a lot of impatience in younger players these days, they always want to make the grade right away.
“But Paul has served his apprenticeship and he has learned the hard parts of football at the smaller grounds in Scotland.
“I am sure he is enjoying the situation he now deservedly finds himself in.
“He’s playing exceptionally well at the present moment and it’s to his credit that he never gave up at any stage.
“He’s always had a belief in what he could do and now he’s doing it.
“But it doesn’t surprise me. I had been to a number of games, even before I was the [Scotland] manager, where Paul was doing well and starting to have an influence.
“Craig Levein deserves a great deal of credit for bringing out something that was in Paul.
“But ultimately it’s down to the player himself. He’s handled the rougher part of his career and he’s now enjoying a bit of recognition.”
Hartley was named in Smith’s squad alongside his Jambo team-mates Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley and Andy Webster and the Scotland manager also expressed his admiration for the Gorgie side’s defensive triumvirate.
However, Smith stopped short of comparing them with the famous Aberdeen trio of Jim Leighton, Alex McLeish and Willie Miller, who were mainstays for both club and country in the 1980s.
He said: “Hearts have had Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley and Andy Webster for a few years now.
“Their defensive situation has been fairly steady and that’s been an advantage for Hearts on the run they are on just now.
“But they have a few games to go and a few trophies to win before they can claim to be at the same kind of level as Leighton, Miller and McLeish.”
