John Hartson

John Hartson

Personal information
Full name	John Hartson
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Norwich City (on loan from West Bromwich Albion)
Number	17
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17:25, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

John Hartson (born April 5, 1975, in Swansea, Wales) is a professional footballer, currently playing for Norwich City on loan from West Bromwich Albion. He is in the mould of a traditional centre forward and "target man". He has exceptional agility and amazing balance on the ball for someone of his frame. Headers are one of his strengths.

Club career

His career began in 1992 as a trainee at Luton Town, and went on to play for Arsenal, joining in January 1995 for £2.5 million; he was one of George Graham's last signings before his sacking in February 1995, along with Chris Kiwomya. He made his Arsenal debut on January 14 1995 and was a regular in his first season, the highlight of which was scoring Arsenal's 75th minute equaliser in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final against Real Zaragoza; however a last-minute goal from 40 yards by Nayim meant Arsenal lost the game 2-1.

With the signing of Dennis Bergkamp, who was preferred up front to partner Ian Wright, Hartson featured less under Graham's successors Bruce Rioch and Arsène Wenger. With Wenger angling for the signing of Nicolas Anelka in early 1997, he made it clear Hartson was surplus to requirements and in February 1997 he was sold to West Ham United for £3.2 million. In total he played 70 times (15 as substitute) for Arsenal, scoring 17 goals.

For West Ham, Hartson scored 33 goals in 73 league and cup appearances for the East London club. There was a training ground incident when Hartson was playing for West Ham in 1998, where he kicked Eyal Berkovic in the head while in front of television cameras. No charges were brought forward, and Hartson has admitted in his biography that this was an error of judgement.

He has since played for Wimbledon and Coventry City, before a £6m transfer to Celtic allowed him to thrive in the Scottish Premier League, where he became one of the most feared strikers in Scottish football. In March, 2004, he dropped out for the remainder of the football season for surgery to his back; however, he recovered in time for Wales' unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup.

In April 2005 he shared the Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year award with Fernando Ricksen and a short time later in May he was voted the Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year.

On 5 April 2006, Hartson scored the winning goal against Hearts on his 31st birthday to clinch the title for Celtic. On 26 June 2006, Hartson signed a two-year contract with English Football League Championship side West Bromwich Albion in a £500,000 move. Hartson scored twice on his Albion debut in a 2-0 Hawthorns win against Hull City on 5 August, 2006.

On Friday August 31, 2007, The Times said that John Hartson had signed for League One club Nottingham Forest on a loan move. On Wednesday September 5, 2007. The Western Mail reported that Hartson had rejected a firm approach from Nottingham Forest and was on the verge of signing for his hometown club Swansea City on loan. However the club quickly issued a statement on its website denying the striker was set to sign.

In October 2007 Hartson joined Norwich City on a month's loan, but this period could be extended until 31st December.

International Career

Hartson holds 50 first team caps for Wales. He retired from international football in early 2006 but in August that year he stated that he would come out of retirement to play if John Toshack needed him. He is currently the 9th top scorer of all time for the international team.

He also holds a record for the Wales U21 team by being one of only three people to have scored a hattrick at that level alongside Craig Davies and Lee Jones.

Controversy

Hartson will always be remembered for his 'hardman' attitude, as well as his goalscoring. He had a few controversial moments in his career, with the major one coming in his West Ham days. In a training ground incident, Hartson kicked team-mate Eyal Berkovic in the face, after the Israeli midfielder had punched Hartson in the leg as he attempted to help Berkovic to his feet. The incident was captured on camera. Hartson was fined for the incident. He was also sent off on a number of occasions, one being a notable dismissal towards the end of an Old Firm derby, when he was sent-off for violent conduct, despite being entirely innocent, along with Celtic team-mate Johan Mjallby, and Rangers player Fernando Ricksen. Hartson's dismissal was overturned on appeal. Hartson was accused in the newspapers of making pro-Irish Republican Army chants with then Celtic team mate Stephen Pearson at a supporters function. An expert investigation later cleared the players and found that they had been singing The Fields of Athenry with the chants coming from members of the public.

External links

• John Hartson at Soccerbase

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