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| Photograph Courtesy of www.dailypost.co.uk |
Over the course of his 16 year career, John Hartson formed a
reputation as a tough, archetypal centre forward with a keen eye for goal.
John’s career has seen him grace the top flight leagues in both England and
Scotland with some huge teams in football such as Arsenal and Celtic as well as
breaking into the International team set up with his beloved Wales.
Born in 1975 in Swansea, Wales John turned out for his local
side Lonlas Boys’ Club from a very young age before getting his big break in
the English leagues with Luton Town Football Club where he joined the Luton
Town Youth Training Scheme at the age of 16, despite some rocky periods as a
youngster John went on to sign his first professional contract with the club in
1992.
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| Photograph Courtesy of www.theguardian.com |
54 appearances and 11 goals later, John was starting to form
a solid reputation for himself to such an extent that the big guns were vying
for his signature and in January 1995 John made the move from Luton to Highbury
for a fee of 2.5 million pounds, small in comparison to the tens of millions
spent on players today but a huge amount at the time, breaking the record for
the highest transfer fee paid for a teenager.
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| Photograph Courtesy of www.arsenal.com |
It was Arsenal manager George Graham who brought John to the
club and sanctioned such a large fee, prior to his dismissal in February 1995.
John’s initial career with Arsenal began well with him partnering Arsenal
legend Ian Wright in what became the club’s preferred striking partnership.
However, with the high profile arrival of Dutch superstar Dennis Bergkamp and
later French youngster Nicolas Anelka, John soon found himself pushed down the
pecking order and in 1997, after 70 appearances and 18 goals, manager Arsene
Wenger sanctioned his move to London rivals West Ham United in what was
purported to be a club record transfer for them at the time of 5 million
pounds.
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| Photograph Courtesy of www.whufc.com |
Hartson really came into his own at West Ham and for many
Arsenal fans it was sad to see this talented player leave, but of course
wonderful to see how well he was doing. Over the course of two season with the
Hammers John amassed an impressive 33 goals over 70 appearances. Controversy
was about to strike however, in September 1998 John was involved in a training
ground altercation with teammate Israeli international Eyal Berkovic.
For most team mates it is usual for bust ups to happen,
particularly in the heat of the moment. It would also be expected that these
issues are dealt with out of the public eye, for John however this wasn’t the
case, the incident which involved a kick to the head of Eyal Berkovic was
captured on camera and very quickly became public.
Following a dip in form, January 1999 signalled the end of
his time at Upton Park as John and West Ham parted company. Another record was
broken with Wimbledon paying a club record fee of 7.5 million pounds for
Hartson’s services. Injury played a big part over the next few years with John
struggling to maintain his fitness, although when available he continued to
show why clubs had broken records to sign him in the past. After just under two
years with Wimbledon, John moved on to join Coventry City on a “Pay as you
play” contract after some high profile moves had fallen through over fears of
injury/lack of fitness.
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| Photograph Courtesy of news.bbc.co.uk |
It was in August 2001 that John made the move North of the
border to join Glasgow Celtic in the Scottish Premier League for a transfer fee
of 6 Million pounds. Over the course of 5 seasons with The Bhoys, John enjoyed
playing some of the best football of his career and won a number of accolades including
the shared award of Scottish PFA Players’ Player of the Year Award (shared with
Fernando Ricksen of Rangers) and Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player
of the Year in 2005.
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| Photograph Courtesy of celticunderground.net |
John went on to achieve a number of honours with the club
including three Scottish Premier League titles, two Scottish Cups and the
Scottish League Cup in 2006. John also helped Celtic to the final of the UEFA
Cup in 2003, notably grabbing a goal against Liverpool in the Quarter final to
help them on their way. Unfortunately John picked up an injury on route to the
final and wasn’t able to turn out for the final game against Jose Mourinho’s
Porto. Celtic went on to lose by 3 goals to 2, the situation may have been
different if John had been on the field but that result will never be known.
It wasn’t just on the domestic stage that John excelled
however. Over the course of his 16 years professional career John also featured
for Wales 51 times, scoring an impressive 14 goals in the process making him
the 10th all time leading goal scorer for the National team prior to
retiring from the International stage in 2006 to concentrate on club football
with Celtic.
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| Photograph Courtesy of news.bbc.co.uk |
It was during John’s time with Celtic that he came to the
notice of the Groggshop and in 2003 John was Grogged in both the green and
white of Celtic and the red of Wales and no doubt hugely proud moment for this
Welsh lad. As a thank you for the honour of being Grogged, John donated one of
his signed Celtic shirts to the shops ever growing memorabilia museum.
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| Photograph Courtesy of The World of Groggs |
After over 150 appearances and in excess of 100 goals John
left his beloved Celtic. A move back South of the boarder with Midlands club
West brown took place in June 2006. John grabbed two goals on his debut for
West Brom in a match against Hull City, proving he still had the touch for the
Premier League.
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| Photograph Courtesy of www.birminghammail.co.uk |
However after a short loan spell with Norwich City, West
Brom decided to terminate John’s Contract in January 2008, 6 months shy of its
end date. A month later, John announced the end of his career and retirement
from professional football.
Retirement didn’t stop John’s involvement or love for the
game of football. John regularly featured in the media as a pundit on well
known British television and radio broadcasters. John also spent time coaching
the forwards of the Welsh National side and spent time as a part time coach of
Newport County.
There is one event which has dominated the life of John
Hartson since his retirement and that is his battle with illness. In 2009 John
was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of testicular cancer. As the
symptoms were ignored by John in the early stages the cancer spread to his
Brain and his Lungs leaving him with what is known as stage-four cancer before
he had even been diagnosed.
The delay in diagnosis meant this aggressive cancer was
taking its toll on John and resulted in countless forms of treatment and
operations to try and stem the spread of the disease and hopefully regress it.
Whilst undergoing treatment of this devastating disease the
John Hartson Foundation was registered as a charity in 2010 in an attempt to
raise awareness of this often ignored form of cancer by those who suffer with
the symptoms. John was lucky enough to make a recovery and since has dedicated
much of his time to the foundation to help others in similar situations.
In John’s own words he said “I believe I was meant to
survive testicular cancer to help others” a noble and well respected statement.
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| Photograph Courtesy of www.johnhartsonfoundation.co.uk |
The foundation has been actively involved in raising awareness of this illness as well as making significant contributions to support those affected most by cancer. Making the most of John’s status as a former professional footballer, the foundation has put on a number of events over the years including Golf Days, Galas, Charity Balls, Entertainment evenings and physical challenges such as The Braveheart Ben Nevis Challenge which saw 70 supporters of the foundation scale Britain’s highest mountain.
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| Photograph Courtesy of www.johnhartsonfoundation.co.uk |
John was extremely popular during his professional career
and received a great deal of support during his own personal battles with
cancer, particularly from the fans of his beloved Celtic. Upon recovery from
his own illness John decided to get a tattoo of the Celtic crest with the words
“You’ll never walk alone” a nod to those who supported him in the most
difficult of times and of course echoing his love for the Glasgow club and its
fans who had given him so much in return.
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| Photograph Courtesy of @JohnHartson10 |
Of course John and the Foundation has continued to receive
great support from fellow high profile celebrities and the public alike in the
course of fundraising and awareness activities and has actively encouraged and
supported those who have wanted to help support it’s cause.
I for one have always been a huge fan of John Hartson during
his career and have been even more enamoured by this battler in the struggles
he has been through in his post retirement years. Anyone who can think of
others even faced with the reality of their own mortality is a hero in my mind.
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