Gary Harkins was born on 2 January 1985 and is a Scottish professional footballer and coach who plays as a midfielder.
52 Facts About Gary Harkins
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Gary Harkins played in the English Football League for Huddersfield Town, Bury, Blackpool, Grimsby Town and Oldham Athletic, and in the Scottish Football League for Partick Thistle, Ayr United, Greenock Morton, Queen of the South, Stenhousemuir and Forfar Athletic.
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Gary Harkins was offered a move to Bolton Wanderers or stay at Celtic but opted to join Blackburn Rovers as a YTS player instead when he was sixteen years old.
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Gary Harkins helped the club's academy win the national age-group title after beating Aston Villa over two-legs in the final.
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Gary Harkins was appointed a trainee at Ewood Park in August 2003 but although he appeared in the academy and reserve teams, he did not play a competitive first team game for the club.
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The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager of Blackburn Rovers in September 2004 saw Gary Harkins 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 central defender.
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Gary Harkins joined Huddersfield Town on loan on 25 March 2004.
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On 8 February 2005, Gary Harkins joined Bury on a one-month loan.
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On 16 November 2005, Gary Harkins joined Blackpool on loan for one month.
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Gary Harkins scored in the next two matches for the club, coming against Carlisle United and Chesterfield.
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Gary Harkins went on to make six appearances and scoring two goals before returning to his parent club.
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On 11 July 2006, Gary Harkins joined Grimsby Town on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract.
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Gary Harkins's spell at Grimsby Town was an unhappy one, with factors including homesickness and a falling-out with manager Alan Buckley.
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Gary Harkins then moved to his native Scotland, and after a trial signed a one-year contract with Scottish First Division club Partick Thistle on 22 July 2007.
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Gary Harkins then captained the club in a number of matches in absent of Alan Archibald.
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Gary Harkins scored two goals in two matches between 23 August 2008 and 26 August 2008 against St Johnstone and Dundee.
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Gary Harkins then scored two goals in two matches between 29 November 2008 and 13 December 2008 against Stirling Albion and Airdrieonians.
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Gary Harkins quickly became a first team regular at Dundee in the midfield position.
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Gary Harkins then scored two goals in two league matches between 6 March 2010 and 17 March 2010 against Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ayr United.
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Gary Harkins, who said the Dens entering administration was the darkest day of his career, expressed optimism that Dundee would avoid relegation.
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Gary Harkins was nominated for SFL Player of the Year in the First Division.
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On 20 June 2011, Gary Harkins left Dundee to sign for Kilmarnock for an undisclosed fee, exercising an option to leave agreed when Dundee went into administration in the previous November.
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Since joining the club, Gary Harkins became involved in the first team, playing in the midfield position.
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However, Gary Harkins suffered ankle injury during training and was for two weeks.
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On 25 January 2013, it was confirmed that Gary Harkins had rejoined Dundee for an undisclosed fee.
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Gary Harkins quickly became a first team regular at the Dens, playing in the midfield position.
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Gary Harkins agreed a two-year contract with St Mirren on 3 June 2013.
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On 30 June 2014, Gary Harkins signed a two-year contract with Dundee for the third time.
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Gary Harkins then scored two goals in two league matches between 4 October 2014 and 18 October 2014 against Aberdeen and Motherwell.
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Gary Harkins then became a captain for the Dens for a number of matches in absent of James McPake.
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Gary Harkins said the comment was meant to be a joke.
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Since joining Ayr United, Gary Harkins became a first team regular, playing in the midfield position.
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Gary Harkins scored two more goals by the end of 2016, coming against Raith Rovers and Dumbarton.
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Gary Harkins later scored five more goals for the club by the end of 2017.
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Gary Harkins then scored two more goals for Greenock Morton in the second half of the season.
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On 9 May 2018, Gary Harkins signed for Dumfries club Queen of the South, initially on a one-year contract.
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Gary Harkins then set up three goals in the first three league matches of the season.
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Gary Harkins scored two goals in two matches between 1 September 2018 and 8 September 2018 against Ayr United and Crusaders.
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However, Gary Harkins suffered a hamstring injury during a match against Alloa Athletic on 6 October 2018 and was substituted in the 58th minute.
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However, Gary Harkins missed two matches for Queen of the South in two separate occasions.
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Gary Harkins signed for Partick Thistle for a second spell on an 18-month contract on 27 December 2018, three days after leaving Queen of the South.
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On 10 June 2020, Gary Harkins announced his retirement from playing via Twitter.
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Just over 3 weeks after announcing his retirement, Harkins returned to football after signing a deal to play with Gartcairn F A Juniors in the newly established West of Scotland Football League.
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In December 2020, Gary Harkins would leave Gartcairn without having played a competitive game for the club.
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Gary Harkins said that he would like to move to coaching once his playing career comes to an end.
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Gary Harkins often appear in the first team, due to Forfar Athletic's lack of available players.
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On 11 November 2022, following the sacking of Irvine and the hiring of new manager Ray McKinnon, Forfar announced that Gary Harkins had departed the club.
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On 6 December 2022, Gary Harkins joined West of Scotland Football League First Division club Kilbirnie Ladeside as a player-coach under manager Shaun Dillon.
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On 4 September 2023, Gary Harkins joined West of Scotland Football League Premier Division club Glenafton Athletic as player-assistant manager under manager Mark Roberts.
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Gary Harkins's brother, Paul is a footballer, playing in Scottish League Two for Elgin City.
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In 2012, after a scan for ligament damage, Gary Harkins revealed that doctors had told him he had been playing with a broken ankle for four years.
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Gary Harkins is married and together they have one daughter.