SMASH 'N' GRAB CELTS NAB HARTLEY

CELTIC last night completed a smash-and-grab job to plunder Paul Hartley from the clutches of Rangers.

The SPL champs - seething over seeing Kevin Thomson leave Hibs for Ibrox on Tuesday - hit back when they struck a £1.1million deal with Hearts for Hartley.

Although Rangers had also agreed a deal with the Tynecastle club and had been granted permission to open signing talks with the Scotland international, Hartley and his adviser blanked repeated calls.

Instead, they entered into talks with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell and by lunchtime a deal had been agreed which will see Hartley link up with former Hearts team-mate Steven Pressley at Parkhead.

By teatime last night Hartley was at Glasgow's Ross Hall Hospital to undergo a medical and is expected to be officially unveiled as a Celtic player at a press conference at Celtic Park later today.

The shock late change of heart has infuriated Rangers manager Walter Smith - who was led to believe that Hartley was desperate to join his Ibrox revolution.

Smith was also thwarted in a last attempt to land Lee McCulloch from Wigan and one final bid to persuade Hibs to part with Scott Brown.

Although Brown now insists he is determined to see out his Easter Road contract and leave on a Bosman deal in 2009, Rangers are expected to move in again for his signature when the transfer window re-opens at the end of the current campaign.

Hartley will team up in training with Celtic other new boy Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe who has credited his career to the man he calls a second father- Cameroon legend Roger Milla.

The striker, who became the oldest goalscorer in World Cup finals history at 42, told Record Sport last week that the leftback would turn out to be a shrewd piece of business by Gordon Strachan.

And 63-times capped Perrier- Doumbe hailed the man who has been a massive influence on his career and who he wants to emulate to become a football icon in the African nation.

Perrier-Doumbe said: "Roger Milla has helped guide me throughout my career and has been like a second father to me. He is a legend.

"I'm proud to have played for Cameroon and been a part of some very important wins over great football nations."

Taken from the Daily Record