Gary Harkins
Encyclopedia
Gary Harkins is a Scottish
professional footballer who plays as a midfielder
for Scottish Premier League
side Kilmarnock
.
He has previously played for Blackburn Rovers
, he then went onto play for Huddersfield Town
, Bury
, Blackpool
, Grimsby Town
, Partick Thistle
and Dundee
.
. However, despite captaining the reserve side, he never played a first team competitive game. The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager of Blackburn, near the end of 2004, seemed to be fresh opportunity for Harkins. He was unexpectedly called up to play with the first team in a number of pre-season friendlies, with Hughes apparently seeing potential in his future as a centre back. However, Harkins' opportunities dried up. He was loaned out to Huddersfield Town
in April 2004 where he was featured in his first match, against Leyton Orient
. However, he didn't appear to feature much in the thoughts of manager Peter Jackson, playing only one full game, and returned to Blackburn in June.He was loaned out again in February 2005 to Bury
, for whom he played five times in a month-long spell. In 2005 Harkins also spent time on loan with Blackpool
.
on a free transfer signing a two year contract. He was one of the first new signings under the new management tenure of Graham Rodger
who had stepped up from Assistant Manager following Russell Slade
's departure to Yeovil Town
. He made his debut on 5 August 2006 in the clubs 3-2 victory over Boston United
. Despite being a regular in the side under Rodger, incoming manager Alan Buckley
who was installed in Rodger's place in November preferred to use several other players over Harkins including Paul Bolland
, Danny Boshell
and James Hunt
. Eventually at the end of the 06-07 season, Harkins was released from the club after starting only 13 games all season, making 7 appearances off the bench and failing to score a single goal.
and signed with Scottish First Division club Partick Thistle. While he started out at Thistle playing as a defender, his move into midfield let him play in a more attacking role. In his two seasons at Firhill he has featured in games against SPL opposition, including several matches against Rangers
, the first of which, a 1-1 draw, saw him dribble past a number of Rangers players before passing the ball through to Damon Gray
, who then scored the game's opening goal. In the 2008/2009 season, he was Thistle's top goalscorer with 11 goals, and was nominated for the First Division Player of the Year award.
to sign for Kilmarnock
for an undisclosed fee. Harkins made his first appaerance for the Ayrshire side on Sunday 24 July 2011 in a 1-1 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice Park. Harkins scored his first goal for Kilmarnock
in a 5-0 win over Queen of the South in the Scottish League Cup 3rd round, scoring only 90 seconds into the match.
, were he played in a wide variety of positions and for varied teams before bagging his move to Blackburn.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
professional footballer who plays as a midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...
for Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
side Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock F.C.
Kilmarnock Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Founded in 1869, "Killie" is the oldest club currently in the Scottish Premier League. Home matches are played at Rugby Park...
.
He has previously played for Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
, he then went onto play for Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
, Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
, Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
, Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
, Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle F.C.
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football club from Glasgow. Despite their name, the club are based in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908...
and Dundee
Dundee F.C.
Dundee Football Club, founded in 1893, are a football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland. They are nicknamed The Dee or The Dark Blues and play their home matches at Dens Park. Their shirt colour is dark blue. Dundee currently play in the Scottish First Division, having been relegated from...
.
Blackburn Rovers
Gary Harkins started out at Blackburn RoversBlackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
. However, despite captaining the reserve side, he never played a first team competitive game. The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager of Blackburn, near the end of 2004, seemed to be fresh opportunity for Harkins. He was unexpectedly called up to play with the first team in a number of pre-season friendlies, with Hughes apparently seeing potential in his future as a centre back. However, Harkins' opportunities dried up. He was loaned out to Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
in April 2004 where he was featured in his first match, against Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient F.C.
Leyton Orient F.C. are an English professional football club in East London. They currently play in Football League One and are known to their fans as the O's.Leyton Orient have spent one season in the top flight of English football, in 1962–63...
. However, he didn't appear to feature much in the thoughts of manager Peter Jackson, playing only one full game, and returned to Blackburn in June.He was loaned out again in February 2005 to Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
, for whom he played five times in a month-long spell. In 2005 Harkins also spent time on loan with Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
.
Grimsby Town
On 12 July 2006, he joined Grimsby TownGrimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
on a free transfer signing a two year contract. He was one of the first new signings under the new management tenure of Graham Rodger
Graham Rodger
Graham Rodger is a Scottish born English former professional footballer and football manager. He played as a defender from 1984 until 1998 for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City and Luton Town before finishing his career with a six year stint at Grimsby Town, where he retired in 1998 following...
who had stepped up from Assistant Manager following Russell Slade
Russell Slade
Russell Slade is an English football manager currently in charge of League One side Leyton Orient.-Notts County:Slade was assistant manager to Mick Walker at Notts County, and took over as caretaker manager when Walker was sacked in September 1994. When County appointed Howard Kendall as manager...
's departure to Yeovil Town
Yeovil Town F.C.
Yeovil Town F.C. are an English association football team based in Yeovil, Somerset. The club play in League One after having won the League Two championship in 2004–05...
. He made his debut on 5 August 2006 in the clubs 3-2 victory over Boston United
Boston United F.C.
Boston United Football Club are an association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. They currently play in the Conference North. The club is known as 'the Pilgrims' in reference to the Pilgrim Fathers, who fled from Boston to the USA and founded Boston, Massachusetts. The club's...
. Despite being a regular in the side under Rodger, incoming manager Alan Buckley
Alan Buckley
Alan Peter Buckley is an English football manager. He was manager of League Two side Grimsby Town until his dismissal in September 2008...
who was installed in Rodger's place in November preferred to use several other players over Harkins including Paul Bolland
Paul Bolland
Paul Graham Bolland is an English professional footballer who plays for Conference National side Mansfield Town as a midfielder...
, Danny Boshell
Danny Boshell
Daniel Kevin "Danny" Boshell is an English football player who currently plays for Conference North club Guiseley AFC. Boshell played in the Football League notably for Grimsby Town where he made 118 appearances in all competitions...
and James Hunt
James Hunt (footballer)
James Malcolm Hunt is a former English professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Notts County, Northampton Town, Oxford United, Bristol Rovers, Grimsby Town and Gainsborough Trinity...
. Eventually at the end of the 06-07 season, Harkins was released from the club after starting only 13 games all season, making 7 appearances off the bench and failing to score a single goal.
Partick Thistle
Harkins then moved to his native ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and signed with Scottish First Division club Partick Thistle. While he started out at Thistle playing as a defender, his move into midfield let him play in a more attacking role. In his two seasons at Firhill he has featured in games against SPL opposition, including several matches against Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
, the first of which, a 1-1 draw, saw him dribble past a number of Rangers players before passing the ball through to Damon Gray
Damon Gray
Damon Ian Gray is an English footballer, who is currently playing for Berwick Rangers. He began his professional career with Scottish Premier League club Hibernian, and has spent time on loan with Partick Thistle. Gray then played for Berwick Rangers for a season before moving to Sweden...
, who then scored the game's opening goal. In the 2008/2009 season, he was Thistle's top goalscorer with 11 goals, and was nominated for the First Division Player of the Year award.
Dundee
After a protracted effort, Dundee finally announced that they had signed Harkins on 2 July 2009, for a fee of £150,000 plus future fees.Kilmarnock
On 20 June 2011 Harkins left DundeeDundee F.C.
Dundee Football Club, founded in 1893, are a football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland. They are nicknamed The Dee or The Dark Blues and play their home matches at Dens Park. Their shirt colour is dark blue. Dundee currently play in the Scottish First Division, having been relegated from...
to sign for Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock F.C.
Kilmarnock Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Founded in 1869, "Killie" is the oldest club currently in the Scottish Premier League. Home matches are played at Rugby Park...
for an undisclosed fee. Harkins made his first appaerance for the Ayrshire side on Sunday 24 July 2011 in a 1-1 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice Park. Harkins scored his first goal for Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock F.C.
Kilmarnock Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Founded in 1869, "Killie" is the oldest club currently in the Scottish Premier League. Home matches are played at Rugby Park...
in a 5-0 win over Queen of the South in the Scottish League Cup 3rd round, scoring only 90 seconds into the match.
Personal life
He attended St Columba's High School, GourockGourock
Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the Firth of Clyde...
, were he played in a wide variety of positions and for varied teams before bagging his move to Blackburn.
Honours
DundeeDundee F.C.
Dundee Football Club, founded in 1893, are a football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland. They are nicknamed The Dee or The Dark Blues and play their home matches at Dens Park. Their shirt colour is dark blue. Dundee currently play in the Scottish First Division, having been relegated from...
- Scottish Challenge Cup: 2009-102009–10 Scottish Challenge CupThe 2009–10 Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the ALBA Challenge Cup due to sponsorship reasons with MG Alba, was the 19th season of the competition, competed for by all 30 members of the Scottish Football League. The previous winner was , who defeated 3–2 on penalties after a 2–2...