Harry Arter
Harry Nicholas Arter is a professional footballer who plays as a central or defensive midfielder.
He began his career at Charlton Athletic, progressing through the club's youth academy before making his professional debut in 2007. He was loaned to non-League clubs Staines Town and Welling United before being released, subsequently joining Woking. After one season at Woking, he returned to The Football League with Bournemouth, becoming a first team regular following a loan to Carlisle United in 2011. He contributed to Bournemouth's promotion to the Championship in 2013, and to the Premier League two years later.
Born and raised in England, Arter represents the Republic of Ireland internationally. He played for the nation at under-17 and under-19 level, and made his senior debut in June 2015.
Early life
Born in Sidcup, Greater London, to parents Terry and Linda Arter, he was raised in the nearby area of Eltham. He has three brothers, Benji, Daniel and Paddy and a sister, Carly.Club career
Charlton Athletic
He began his career with Charlton Athletic, joining the club's youth system at the age of seven. Turning down offers from other clubs to remain with Charlton, he made his professional debut, and only appearance for the club, on 25 September 2007 in the third round of the League Cup, away to Luton Town. He came on as an 86th-minute substitute for Svetoslav Todorov as Charlton lost 3–1 after extra time. Soon after, he was diagnosed with chronic tendonitis in his achilles which eventually ruptured, leading to almost a year out of action. On his return to fitness, he struggled to break into the first team under new manager Phil Parkinson. In the 2008–09 season, Arter immediately clashed with Parkinson, accusing the manager of "belittling" him by sending him for a trial with non-League club Staines Town prior to a short loan spell.He later had a loan spell with Welling United as Charlton suffered relegation to League One and Arter was subsequently released by Parkinson as part of an effort to reduce costs at the club. Arter later expressed his disappointment with the decision, stating "The money I was asking for was nothing. I would have taken anything to stay at the time, so it wasn't down to finance, it was him not liking me as a footballer." Despite his release, he was allowed to train with Charlton's youth team by coach Steve Avory who had worked with Arter for several years in his youth career. Arter later undertook unsuccessful trials with Gillingham and Ipswich Town and even offered to remain with Charlton without pay but was rejected by Parkinson.
Woking
On 2 June 2009, Arter signed for Conference South club Woking on a one-year contract along with his former Charlton teammate Aswad Thomas, after being recommended by assistant manager Jimmy Dack who had worked with Arter previously at Welling. Arter had been waiting for a firm offer to join AFC Wimbledon but accepted Woking's offer after Wimbledon failed to call back. He made his debut for the club in the opening day of the 2009–10 season, during a 2–1 victory over his former team Welling United. On 24 October 2009, Arter scored a hat-trick for the club during a 5–0 win over Hendon in the FA Cup.At the end of the 2009–10 season, it was well documented that Arter would be leaving Woking, with several Football League clubs chasing Arter. Woking's website soon confirmed that Arter had agreed to sign for AFC Bournemouth with the fee to be decided by an FA tribunal, as the two clubs could not agree a transfer fee, with Woking hoping to receive around £30,000 for the move after rejecting Bournemouth's initial £2,000 offer. Arter later described how he had planned to give up football if his season with Woking had failed.
AFC Bournemouth
2010–11
On 7 June 2010, Arter joined League One club Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee, later stated as £4,000, signed by Eddie Howe. The club had moved to sign Arter after impressing assistant manager Jason Tindall during a scouting assignment, with a previous transfer embargo having been recently lifted. Two months later, after impressing during the club's preseason fixtures, he made his debut in their first match of the season, away to his former team Charlton. He was booked in the first half for a foul on Akpo Sodje and substituted at half time for Michael Symes as Bournemouth lost 1–0. He was subsequently dropped from the first team, not making another start in the league for Bournemouth until November, having also been hampered by a hernia. The hernia eventually required surgery, resulting in Arter being ruled out for a month.Having fallen out of favour under new manager Lee Bradbury, despite being handed a new three-year contract following his appointment, on 4 March 2011, Arter went on a one-month loan to fellow League One club Carlisle United in order to gain first team experience. The next day he made his debut for the club, replacing Liam Noble for the last 30 minutes away to Brighton & Hove Albion. He scored an extra-time equaliser, the first of his professional career, but a minute later Liam Bridcutt scored Brighton's winner in a 4–3 victory. He made four further appearances for the club during his loan spell before returning to Bournemouth.
2011–12
The sales of Danny Hollands and Anton Robinson during the 2011 summer transfer window allowed Arter to gain increased first team experience with Bournemouth. On 13 August 2011, Arter replaced Mark Molesley in the 66th minute of a match against Sheffield Wednesday at Dean Court, and 17 minutes later confirmed a 2–0 win with his first goal for the club. going on to score in his two following appearances, a 3–1 defeat to Stevenage and a 2–1 victory over his former team Carlisle. His performances attracted the attention of several Championship clubs and Bournemouth rejected enquiries from two clubs, before handing him an improved contract.However, despite an upturn in form, Arter suffered from a poor disciplinary record, serving a one-match suspension after collecting five bookings within the first two months of the season and accumulating nine bookings by November. His tally was the worst in League One and led him to seek advice from a sports psychologist in order to control his anger, with the majority of his bookings being due to dissent towards match officials. He eventually received a two-match ban for receiving his tenth booking of the season a month later and a further three-match ban later in the season for his fifteenth booking. After Bradbury was dismissed and replaced by former youth team manager Paul Groves, Arter stated that he hoped to be used in a more attacking role after claiming that Bradbury had played him "too defensively." Overall, he scored 5 goals in 34 league matches during the season as Bournemouth finished in 11th place.
2012–13
On 25 August 2012, in his fourth appearance of the 2012–13 season Arter was sent off after 26 minutes of Bournemouth's 1–1 draw at Preston North End for two bookable offences. Following the dismissal, he issued a public apology for the sending off and blamed his "immaturity." Manager Groves held talks with Arter in an attempt to curb his disciplinary problems, and, despite accepting his behaviour, Arter also claimed that he was being unfairly treated by referees due to his reputation, commenting "I feel I am being highlighted before a game. I have earned that reputation so it is my fault. But, in another way, it is unfair on me."On 20 October 2012, in Eddie Howe's first match back in charge following his reappointment as manager, Arter scored in a 3–1 home win over Tranmere Rovers. One of Howe's first decisions on his return was to sign Arter to an extended contract, set to run until 2015 with Bournemouth retaining the option for a further year. Following Howe's return, Arter became a key figure in the team as the club embarked on a fifteen match unbeaten run that moved them into promotion contention, eventually losing 1–0 to Walsall in January 2013. Despite receiving a two-match ban for accumulating ten bookings for the second consecutive season, manager Howe praised Arter and stated his belief that he had "matured" as a player and his bookings were largely due to his combative nature on the field rather than dissent.
Altogether, he scored 8 goals in 37 league matches, including in a 3–1 win in the penultimate match of the season against Carlisle on 20 April 2013, which secured Bournemouth promotion to the Championship. Arter described his goal as "the most important goal I have ever scored and one that will probably stick with me for the rest of my life."
2013–14
Following Bournemouth's promotion to the Championship, they began their campaign against Arter's former team Charlton for the third time in four seasons, winning 2–1 on the opening day of the season as Arter recorded a victory over his former team for the first time in his career. Having featured regularly during the first month of the season, he was ruled out until October through injury before making his return in a 5–2 victory over Millwall where he scored his first goal in the second tier.Arter's season ended on 5 April 2014 when he received a straight red card following a foul on Junior Hoilett during a 2–1 victory over Queens Park Rangers, gaining a three-match ban. He helped the team to a tenth-placed finish in their first season in the Championship, the highest placed finish and points total in the club's history, and credited Howe with bringing the best out of the club's players and improving his own game in "leaps and bounds".
2014–15
Despite their record finish, Arter was keen to push for promotion at the start of the 2014–15 season and claimed he would see the season as a failure if the club did not at least reach the playoffs. On 25 October 2014, Arter played as Bournemouth beat Birmingham City 8–0 away to set a club record win. Throughout the season Arter and midfielder Andrew Surman formed a strong partnership, with Arter more the attacking and Surman the more defensive of the two, with Arter praising his midfield teammate – describing him as "He's a top player and one we're fortunate to have." Arter was named the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Month award for December 2014, after scoring in all five matches he played during the month but lost out to Ipswich Town forward Daryl Murphy in the Football League equivalent. He was rewarded for his form by signing an improved three-and-a-half-year contract with the club.Arter became known for his left footed strikes from range, notably scoring the second goal in the 3–0 home victory over promotion rivals Middlesbrough and first goal in the 1–1 away draw against second placed Watford. On 27 April 2015, Arter played in the 3–0 home victory against Bolton Wanderers, the win all but sealed Bournemouth's promotion to the Premier League. Five days later, he scored the second goal in the 3–0 away win against his former club Charlton, the win fully sealed promotion and, thanks to Watford drawing their last match in injury time, the Championship title. This was the first time Bournemouth had been promoted into England's top flight in the club's 125-year history.
Arter was one of Bournemouth's prominent players in the season, contributing 9 goals from 43 matches, and subsequently was voted Supporters' Player of the Season and named PFA Championship Player of the Season.