From joining on deadline day a year ago to becoming captain and spending almost six months on the sidelines in between, Peter Hartley has had a rollercoaster time at Fir Park already.
Now back at the forefront of the action and back at the heart of the defence, the 30-year-old is leading a team where expectations have risen after a fantastic 2017/18 campaign.
After coming through the Betfred Cup group stage this season undefeated, an opening league defeat to Hibernian had the potential to knock the team back, but Hartley says nobody is concerned and the weekend’s result is already consigned to history.
“Obviously nobody likes a defeat but it’s done and dusted,” he said. “Obviously it’s not nice stuff but it’s three points gone, and it’s only three points, and you move on.
“Regardless of losing three goals, we also had chances and maybe we could have got something on a different day.
“We have to keep perspective. Especially with the injuries we had and the players missing for whatever reason.
“But we also know that the expectation levels are higher. Those are expectations we’ve earned as a team because of what we did last year, and we know the fans might expect more.
“Obviously in the dressing room we have targets and then we got off to a start which wasn’t the best. But our mindset doesn’t change. You go out wanting to win but you come out of it knowing that sometimes you don’t, but you always keep the mindset going forward that any game is winnable.
“Let’s be realistic also. We know the season isn’t going to be determined by one result.”
Having made his move to ML1 permanent in January, and becoming an overnight internet star with his signing video, Hartley suffered a setback with a foot injury which ruled him out of the remainder of the campaign.
The road back to fitness had its ups and downs but the Englishman says he’s feeling almost back to his old self.
“In the first few weeks, I’d say I was quite leggy, just getting back up to speed in terms of the way our team plays,” he explained. “We do a lot of running and there’s a lot of physical play. I feel like I’m getting up to top speed now. I am improving every game and I can feel the progression.
“There have been times I can feel little bits of frustration. There’s peaks and troughs, and it’s all about how you deal with it mentally. I’ve learned with experience not to get too frustrated, just keep doing what I do and it’ll come, and not expect too much too soon.
“It’s a cliche but it’s true – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve got 38 games to play. You can’t expect to hit the ground running every game. I’m just trying to just get myself back to the standard I know I can set.”
Taking over the captaincy in the summer from close friend Carl McHugh could have been a difficult situation for a player to be in. But with the situation handled with care, and his team-mate fully behind his replacement after taking his own decision to stand down, Hartley says there’s been no noticeable adjustments in the dressing room.
“I haven’t changed anything personally,” he explained. “I’m quite natural with the way I do things anyway. I’m not going to change because I’ve got a responsibility. I felt like I had that responsibility anyway last season being part of the group, so i’ll just keep doing what I do.
“We’ve got a lot of people in the dressing room that anyone can speak to. We’ve got a good team with leaders and experience players. It’s a great group and there’s been no transition period for me.
“It’s been easy. Especially with Carl and how everything has been handled. I’ve been in dressing rooms before where there can be resentment when changes like this happen. But it’s honestly been great and the dressing room dynamic hasn’t changed at all.”
Hartley is fond of a derby clash, taking the game with Hamilton in particular as one that requires a mentality that you’re in an all-or-nothing clash from the off.
“When you play Hamilton, the team that generally wins the battle wins the derby. You seen it last season when we beat them three times and then got beat twice. You’ve got to try and get the first goal and you’ve got to win your battles.
“As players know that it in a derby, you have to play as a team. If you go out as individuals, you’re going to get smashed to pieces.
“We have to have a high tempo but also keep it simple. We haven’t conceded at home yet this season and we’ve won all our games, so we’ve set a standard that Fir Park is a hard place to come.
We can already see that across the league, everyone is making improvements. The standard of of the so-called big teams in this league has just gone through the roof. You see improvements at Hibs, at Celtic, at Rangers, at Aberdeen.
“I think the standards have been raised again and then it falls to us. We can’t stand still. Everything we have done this summer tells you we know we won’t settle for it. We’ve got to keep moving forward and improve ourselves as a team, and we know we’re capable of it.”
Now back at the forefront of the action and back at the heart of the defence, the 30-year-old is leading a team where expectations have risen after a fantastic 2017/18 campaign.
After coming through the Betfred Cup group stage this season undefeated, an opening league defeat to Hibernian had the potential to knock the team back, but Hartley says nobody is concerned and the weekend’s result is already consigned to history.
“Obviously nobody likes a defeat but it’s done and dusted,” he said. “Obviously it’s not nice stuff but it’s three points gone, and it’s only three points, and you move on.
“Regardless of losing three goals, we also had chances and maybe we could have got something on a different day.
“We have to keep perspective. Especially with the injuries we had and the players missing for whatever reason.
“But we also know that the expectation levels are higher. Those are expectations we’ve earned as a team because of what we did last year, and we know the fans might expect more
“Obviously in the dressing room we have targets and then we got off to a start which wasn’t the best. But our mindset doesn’t change. You go out wanting to win but you come out of it knowing that sometimes you don’t, but you always keep the mindset going forward that any game is winnable.
“Let’s be realistic also. We know the season isn’t going to be determined by one result.”
Having made his move to ML1 permanent in January, and becoming an overnight internet star with his signing video, Hartley suffered a setback with a foot injury which ruled him out of the remainder of the campaign.
The road back to fitness had its ups and downs but the Englishman says he’s feeling almost back to his old self.
“In the first few weeks, I’d say I was quite leggy, just getting back up to speed in terms of the way our team plays,” he explained. “We do a lot of running and there’s a lot of physical play. I feel like I’m getting up to top speed now. I am improving every game and I can feel the progression.
“There have been times I can feel little bits of frustration. There’s peaks and troughs, and it’s all about how you deal with it mentally. I’ve learned with experience not to get too frustrated, just keep doing what I do and it’ll come, and not expect too much too soon.
“It’s a cliche but it’s true – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve got 38 games to play. You can’t expect to hit the ground running every game. I’m just trying to just get myself back to the standard I know I can set.”
Taking over the captaincy in the summer from close friend Carl McHugh could have been a difficult situation for a player to be in. But with the situation handled with care, and his team-mate fully behind his replacement after taking his own decision to stand down, Hartley says there’s been no noticeable adjustments in the dressing room.
“I haven’t changed anything personally,” he explained. “I’m quite natural with the way I do things anyway. I’m not going to change because I’ve got a responsibility. I felt like I had that responsibility anyway last season being part of the group, so i’ll just keep doing what I do.
“We’ve got a lot of people in the dressing room that anyone can speak to. We’ve got a good team with leaders and experience players. It’s a great group and there’s been no transition period for me.
“It’s been easy. Especially with Carl and how everything has been handled. I’ve been in dressing rooms before where there can be resentment when changes like this happen. But it’s honestly been great and the dressing room dynamic hasn’t changed at all.”
Hartley is fond of a derby clash, taking the game with Hamilton in particular as one that requires a mentality that you’re in an all-or-nothing clash from the off.
“When you play Hamilton, the team that generally wins the battle wins the game. You seen it last season when we beat them three times and then got beat twice. You’ve got to try and get the first goal and you’ve got to win your battles.
“As players know that it in a derby, you have to play as a team. If you go out as individuals, you’re going to get smashed to pieces.
“We have to have a high tempo but also keep it simple. We haven’t conceded at home yet this season and we’ve won all our games, so we’ve set a standard that Fir Park is a hard place to come.
We can already see that across the league, everyone is making improvements. The standard of of the so-called big teams in this league has just gone through the roof. You see improvements at Hibs, at Celtic, at Rangers, at Aberdeen.
“I think the standards have been raised again and then it falls to us. We can’t stand still. Everything we have done this summer tells you we know we won’t settle for it. We’ve got to keep moving forward and improve ourselves as a team, and we know we’re capable of it.”
