Gary Harkins (born January 2, 1985 in Greenock) is a Scottish footballer who currently plays for Dundee as a midfielder.

Career in England

Gary Harkins started out at Blackburn Rovers. 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. On 12 July 2006, he joined Grimsby Town on a free transfer on a two year contract. However he left Grimsby one year later and joined Scottish First Division club Partick Thistle.

Career in Scotland

While he started out at Thistle playing as a defender, his move into midfield let him play in a more attacking role, and has gained national attention as one of the First Division's most talented players. 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. He is often the heart of the Thistle's creativity on the pitch, and as one of the club's most entertaining players he has gained the nickname 'Glorious' Gary Harkins by the fans.

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.

After a protracted effort, Dundee finally announced that they had signed Harkins on July 2, 2009, for a fee of £150,000 plus future fees.

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