WHEN you consider that Paul Hart’s playing career consisted of 567 senior games for eight clubs over 18 seasons, but just 38 minutes for Birmingham City, you might think the former central defender can barely recall his sliver of Blues action.
But you would be wrong.
Hart has carved out an impressive life in football. All those matches played, most notably seven seasons with Leeds United and Nottingham Forest, followed by jobs in management and coaching at Chesterfield, Forest, Barnsley, Rushden, Portsmouth, QPR, Crystal Palace, Swindon and, currently, Charlton Athletic where is academy director. A long, full and busy career.
But he still vividly remembers January 1, 1987: Birmingham City 3 Plymouth Argyle 2. It was the day that Hart, coming to the end of his playing days at 34, made his Blues debut. And his farewell.
Three days after John Bond bought him from Sheffield Wednesday for £15,000, Hart lined up alongside Tommy Williams at the heart of defence. And, after 38 minutes, he collided with his defensive partner and sustained a horrible injury which left bone sticking out of his sock.
A bit of a nightmare for the big fella. And he would never get back on the field for Blues.
Yet he recalls his brief passage through St Andrew’s with considerable warmth.
“It sounds strange to say in the circumstances,” said Hart. “But I have very fond memories of my time at Birmingham. I was really pleased to sign for John Bond, for whom I had great respect, and, although I only played for about half-an-hour, I was around the club for months after that, getting fit, and the people there were brilliant.
“Of course, it was a huge blow to break my leg and it was a bad one too, a compound fracture, but I had a brilliant surgeon and medical back-up all round. I was back on my feet again within seven weeks.
“And I had a lot of really nice letters from Birmingham supporters. They were extremely kind and that was a big help.”
Bond had hoped Hart would be a big help in driving mid-table Blues into the promotion race. The early signs were promising as, in front of a crowd of 8,696, Martin Kuhl fired Blues into the lead against sixth-placed Plymouth and, according to the Mail: “..with Hart a commanding figure at the centre of defence, Blues looked a much more compact side than of late.”
