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Harry Nicholas Arter (born 28 December 1989) 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.
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 (Parkinson) 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.
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 The 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.
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.
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.
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."
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".
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.
On 12 December 2015, Arter played in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United, just days after his wife had given birth to their stillborn daughter. Despite his grief, he met with manager Howe prior to the match, telling him "I'm training today and playing tomorrow if you want to select me. I want to play so bad." He later admitted that he was in a "bad way" mentally before the match and wept in the changing room toilets prior to kick-off. He produced a performance that saw him named man of the match afterwards, being substituted in the final stages of the match after being overcome with emotion and embracing Howe on the touchline. After the match, Howe praised Arter, stating that he had "real strength to keep his emotions in check." Arter was also given a standing ovation by his Bournemouth teammates in the dressing room.
Further injury problems restricted Arter's appearances, suffering from a persistent achilles issue, and he appeared in just four matches in the final three months of the season. He attempted to play on with the injury but struggled to maintain fitness and admitted that he had returned to action too early. In his first season in the first tier, he appeared in 21 league matches for the club as they finished in 16th position.
He started Bournemouth's first 21 league matches of the season and earned praise for his form but was dropped from the team for a match against Watford in January 2017. He stated that he "hated" being left out of the squad but was restored to the starting line-up for the following match, scoring his first goal of the season in a 6–3 defeat to Everton. Arter made 35 appearances for Bournemouth during the 2016–17 season, being rewarded with a new three-year contract set to run until 2021 at the end of the year. Manager Howe praised Arter for improving his disciplinary record, stating that, although he "still had that fiery streak," he had "matured" as a player.
During pre-season for the 2017–18 season, Arter was monitored by Bournemouth over fitness concerns after playing the majority of the previous season with an achilles injury. On 19 August 2017, Arter received media attention after controversially tricking Nathaniel Chalobah into leaving a free shot on goal by pretending to be one of Chalobah's teammates in a 2–0 home defeat to Watford. Having started all of his club's opening five matches, he suffered an injury and after returning to the squad following an international break he was unable to regain his first team place. He made 13 appearances over the course of the season, his final start coming during a 2–2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on New Year's Day. Despite his lack of playing time, manager Howe stated that Arter was not for sale after he was heavily linked with a transfer to rival Premier League club West Ham United, with Arter declaring he was "100% committed" to Bournemouth.
Arter joined Fulham on a season long loan in August 2019, with the option to make the move permanent. He scored his first league goal for Fulham on 30 June 2020 against QPR in a 1–2 away win.
On 5 June 2024, it was confirmed that Arter would leave Nottingham Forest at the conclusion of his contract.
In February 2015, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill said that Arter was on his radar and could be called up to the squad for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Poland. He earned his first call-up for that match on 12 March, following what O'Neill described as a "very good season", but did not play in it. He made his senior debut on 7 June 2015, as a 63rd-minute substitute for Glenn Whelan in a 0–0 draw in a friendly against England at the Aviva Stadium. He made his full international debut against the Netherlands in a 1–1 draw in Dublin on 27 May 2016, in which he was awarded man of the match. However, he was ultimately left out of Ireland's squad for UEFA Euro 2016. Arter made his senior competitive debut for the Republic of Ireland in a 1–0 away win over Austria on 12 November 2016 in a World Cup qualifying match, having made himself unavailable for the previous month's matches against Georgia and Moldova.
In September 2018, Arter made himself unavailable for selection for two matches after a clash with assistant manager Roy Keane. After sitting out several training sessions due to reporting various minor niggles to medical staff, Arter was confronted by Keane which led to Arter walking out of the team training session. Arter returned to the Republic of Ireland team for the UEFA Nations League match against Denmark on 13 October 2018.
In December 2015, Arter and his partner, Rachel, suffered a family tragedy when their daughter died at birth. Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe paid tribute to Arter following a 2–1 win over Manchester United on 12 December. Howe dedicated the win to Arter and said it had been "a hugely emotional week for him." In October 2016, Arter shared the news of his partner being pregnant again. On 17 February 2017, she gave birth to a baby girl, and called her Raine.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Charlton Athletic | 2007–08 | EFL Championship | 0 |
| 2008–09 | Championship | 0 | |
| Staines Town (loan) | 2008–09 | Isthmian League Premier Division | 1 |
| Welling United (loan) | 2008–09 (2026). 9781869833664, Tony Williams Publications. ISBN 9781869833664 | Conference South | 0 |
| Woking | 2009–10 | Conference South | 9 |
| AFC Bournemouth | 2010–11 | League One | 0 |
| 2011–12 | League One | 6 | |
| 2012–13 | League One | 8 | |
| 2013–14 | Championship | 3 | |
| 2014–15 | Championship | 9 | |
| 2015–16 | Premier League | 1 | |
| 2016–17 | Premier League | 1 | |
| 2017–18 | Premier League | 1 | |
| 2018–19 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2019–20 | Premier League | 0 | |
| Carlisle United (loan) | 2010–11 | League One | 1 |
| Cardiff City (loan) | 2018–19 | Premier League | 0 |
| Fulham (loan) | 2019–20 | Championship | 3 |
| Nottingham Forest | 2020–21 | Championship | 0 |
| 2021–22 | Championship | 0 | |
| 2022–23 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2023–24 | Premier League | 0 | |
| Charlton Athletic (loan) | 2021–22 | League One | 0 |
| Notts County (loan) | 2021–22 | National League | 0 |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Republic of Ireland | 0 |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
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