HART FACES CHOP FROM THREE LIONS

Joe faces axe to cap worst season of a fine career for club & country

JOE HART is facing the England axe after his career was left in limbo. Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate is ready to bring in Jack Butland for Hart (above) in tomorrow’s friendly with France and the Stoke keeper is seen as his potential long-term No.1. Southgate said: “Our intention was always to give someone else a game – and, however that looks, I will have to ride it out. I am

JOE HART knows better than anyone his England place is in serious jeopardy after the worst year of his career. A nightmare Euros, getting bombed out of Manchester City, and ending up at Torino on loan, was not in the plan for England’s No.1. He was panned for not stopping either of Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths’ free kicks in what so nearly turned into a nightmare at Hampden Park. Hart’s air of invincibility has been stripped away with mistakes, high-profile errors against Iceland and Wales, and even getting too hyped-up before games at the Euros. Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has shown his ruthless streak by dumping Wayne Rooney and now he must be looking at Hart. The keeper’s club career is uncertain, his performances have been in decline since those heroic displays for City in the Champions League and winning the Premier League – and Jack Butland is a genuine alternative. Southgate puts so much faith in players who graduate with him and fit-again Butland has come through the Under-21s. Nobody should be surprised if he starts as No.1 at next year’s World Cup. England were poor at Hampden Park, their boot camp with the Royal Marines did not seem to improve leadership, let alone passing, control and heading. At least they kept going at the end and Harry Kane spared their blushes with a

last-gasp equaliser after Griffiths’ two freekicks put Scotland in dreamland and on the verge of a famous victory. Hart admits his England place is under threat for the first time since becoming No.1 nearly seven years ago and said: “I’ve got to respect this career, this England shirt’s not mine, it’s not nailed-on mine, it’s no one’s, and we’ve got high quality. “I have to be playing football at the top level, to the maximum of my ability, to even get in the squad at the moment. “It’s my life, it’s me, it’s my normal. I am no robot. Sometimes I do have thoughts about it. But there is nothing to get down about. “It’s another exciting adventure, another move, the next step in my career. I love personal challenges. I have never shied away from one. “The switch (to a new club) is what needs to happen – we all need stability in our life. I’m not a kid any more, I can’t just pack my stuff like a 19-yearold and go on loan. “I am a 30-year-old man with stuff I need to organise. I like stability. There is an ideal situation to come out of this but nothing is perfect. It’s a short career and football is crazy so I have to be prepared for anything. I need an offer first and then work out my options, if I have choices. “I want to be playing at the highest possible level, pushing myself. I want to push everything out of me. Physically, I feel in great condition and I want to go again.” Maybe the uncertainty and upheaval, together with the heartbreak of being dropped by City boss Pep Guardiola, has set him back. It would be hard to imagine Hart at his best letting in two freekicks like Griffiths’s. But he insists he was not to blame for either goal. He said: “I think, as a goalkeeper, you set your wall up, sometimes there’s nothing you can do. He’s produced two bits of quality. Sometimes you’ve got to say well done. It was certainly a case of that. “I asked my wall to jump but not excessively because people are clever now and they go underneath. But I’ve seen it again and we would have needed four or five Crouchies in that wall to make a difference and that’s not what we had. “I wanted to congratulate him (Griffiths) and talk about it. I’m interested about his thought process, you know, football interests me.” Hart admits he is desperate to get his future sorted so he can get on with his career – and reestablish himself as England’s No.1. He added: “After Tuesday night (when England play France) is when conversations can be had and people can start being real. “You look at some of the top teams that have got the best strikers, and they are looking to buy another top striker. “If you have got a top goalkeeper, you are not often looking to buy another goalkeeper. “It’s a game of chess and my situation is different to everyone else’s, and we are going to wait and see how it plays out.”