This is the best I've ever felt - Celtic star Hartley raring to go

13 April 2012

Fit and raring to go: Hartley had itchy feet after a three-week break

When Paul Hartley began his life as a professional footballer 16 years ago, close season meant nine weeks of inactivity followed by four weeks of nausea.

This summer, the Celtic midfielder allowed himself just a fortnight of respite. At a time when the central engine room at the Parkhead club is more congested than a rush-hour commuter train, rest and recreation have become precious commodities. 

Just six weeks since his last game for Scotland, away to the Czech Republic, the former Hearts star returns to action in Southampton tomorrow night for Claus Lundekvam's testimonial match, before facing Fulham at Craven Cottage 24 hours later.

The 31-year-old would, he insists, have it no other way.

Modelling Celtic's new Nike home kit, Hartley said: 'My last game of the season was with Scotland then I had just under three weeks' holiday.

'I had a two-week break then I got back running again. You've got 14 days to get yourself back.

'I went to Portugal for the two weeks. If you get three or four weeks off, you get bored doing the same thing and I just wanted to get back playing football again.

'I'd actually like to have been at Euro 2008 - even though we got a break. You miss the training when you are away. You get fed up playing golf, sitting about or whatever. You just want to get back into playing football again.

'I look forward to the beginning of the season again because of the way we finished last season.' 

Others may look at things differently, yearning for the days of inertia and indulgence followed by gut-churning ascents of sand dunes.

Since joining Celtic, however, Hartley believes he has become fitter than ever - motivated partly by the vast competition for places in his position.

'This is probably the best I've ever felt physically,' he added ahead of this weekend's double-header in England. 'It's the fittest I've felt since I came to Celtic. I feel in good shape but sometimes you have to adjust to your position when you go to another team.

'Players now don't get the time off they used to. There was a period where they used to get nine weeks off - now it's three weeks at the most because of the international games.

'In that space of time, you maybe take three weeks off, then return and try to get back into the swing of things and get yourself into as good a shape as possible.

'When I first started out playing - and this is my 16th pre- season - we were probably getting eight or nine weeks off. Now it has all changed.

'I got a good pre-season last season and now, with the way we train, it's the best shape I've ever been in.

'In the old days, it was run until you drop but now players come back a lot fitter and sharper. The amount of time you spend on the ball now is an indication of the way football has gone.

'Sports scientists have helped a lot, with the way they work your body. We've got a very good one, in the Frenchman Gregory Dupont, who knows his stuff very well.

'Football has changed from even the way things were at Hearts five years ago, with sports science and what you eat and drink and what you do before games and training.

'We used to dismiss it but the foreigners have always had the science people in along with fitness coaches. You always remember that players would come back overweight.

'Pre-season was to try to get the weight back off them. Players would come back a stone or two overweight because they'd had a nice summer.'

These days, players are more often heard to be complaining over the complete lack of a summer.

After finding his form in a Celtic shirt towards the end of last season, however, Hartley is itching to start the new term with immediate effect.

'Over the last year I've felt more experienced as a Celtic player,' he admitted. 'The settling in here was a difficult period, but I feel in the last year things have started to go well.'

Supporters and management will hope that the same might apply to Scott Brown, the young midfielder's loss of a sister at the end of last season casting some light on the problems he has had to contend with since arriving at Parkhead for £4.5million last summer.

Delivering the news many want to hear, Hartley insisted: 'We know the talent Scott has and he had a very difficult period a couple of months ago for personal reasons. People forget that will affect any player.

'But he has been flying in training and in the bounce games we've played in he has looked excellent. We always knew he'd be a big player for us and he's only a young lad.

'There were big expectations for him because of the size of the fee but I'm sure you'll see the best of him this season because we all know what a talented player he is.

'When you come to a club like this you've got to impress everybody and hit the ground running. You want to impress the players, the coaches, the manager and the supporters, but you need a settling-in period because of the size of the club.'

For Brown, Hartley and others, a new season of scrutiny begins tomorrow night on England's south coast.

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