THE FAITH HEALER
Hart thanks Ange for restoring his belief when Pep, Moyes and others turned him away
REFLECTING on much of the five years since his time with Manchester City effectively ended, Joe Hart feels compelled to make a clear distinction.
‘I need to be careful with my words,’ said the Celtic goalkeeper. ‘I didn’t necessarily fall out of love with the game.
‘Never have I ever not loved football and I doubt I will. But the industry, the business side of it... I didn’t love.
‘That’s not me being a victim. I get it. I get that football is cutthroat and there are lots of people who have a lot of opinions. I fell on the wrong side of a lot of them.’
The former England man doesn’t name names but he doesn’t have to. It was Pep Guardiola who signalled the beginning of the end for him at the Etihad in 2016.
Then, after an error-strewn year on loan with Torino, the Italian club’s chairman, Urbano Cairo, sent him on his way having left no one in any doubt he had not lived up to expectations.
David Moyes was apparently no fan either — taking him out of his West Ham team and ending his hopes of featuring at the 2018 World Cup.
As for Nuno Espírito Santo at Spurs this summer? The Portuguese was nothing if not honest when he told Hart his services were no longer required.
If it’s every manager’s right to make tough decisions for the good of their team, the personal impact on even experienced hands like Hart can be colossal.
The aggregate effect of this string of misadventures he endured was something Ange Postecoglou clearly recognised. Some simple words of reassurance have gone an awful long way.
‘Ange is a pretty simple guy when it comes to the information he gives,’ said Hart. ‘I’ll be honest, and I said it when I came here, at that point football wasn’t doing everything that it had done for me in my life.
‘I don’t know where my thoughts were with it, because I am very committed to what I do.
‘I like to be fully on board with my employers and the people that I work for.
‘I told Ange when I spoke to him that I didn’t quite know how to feel about football at that moment. He understood and he was very simple in what he said.
‘He told me: “If you come here you will be treated with a lot of respect and will get a lot of responsibility”. Ange also said: “Regardless of anything, I believe in you as a goalkeeper”. No matter who you are, you need to hear that. You need to know someone has confidence in you.’
It’s taken Postecoglou to restore that sense of self-worth in the 34-year-old.
The responsibility of keeping goal with a club like Celtic is all Hart craved in recent times.
Those who watched his career graph inch ever downward could have been forgiven for believing it was at the player’s behest but nothing could be further from the truth.
‘I wouldn’t even consider winding down,’ he added. ‘I don’t know why I would.
‘I don’t see an end to my footballing career. I’m physically and mentally very capable, and I feel like I’m more than good enough to be playing at the level.
‘Even at Spurs, to the untrained eye that was me going to play back-up but that’s not why I went there. I went there for different reasons, with different conversations making my decision.’
There was always an element of a gamble in Celtic signing Hart yet it was far from being a wild punt.
A two-time winner of the English Premier League and with 75 England caps to his name, his wilderness years were more due to psychological reasons and the views of others rather than any physical ailments.
Postecoglou and Celtic have brought him from the dark into the light. He has evidently needed a manager in the mould of the Australian and a club with the expectation of the one he now plays for.
‘He has kinda left me to it, to be the person and player that I am,’ said Hart.
‘I have been around a long time, I have seen a lot. I have been allowed to bring that to the team, as well as what I can do on the field.
‘I have realised for myself what a special club this is. I am enjoying being part of Celtic.
‘I was always aware of Celtic’s size. I knew how well my friend and colleague Fraser Forster did here.
He really enjoyed it and you could see how he performed when he was here, which speaks volumes.
‘It’s the kind of place I wanted to come to when I got the chance to sign.’
In a season of huge transition, Postecoglou’s trust in Hart was immediately evident through the two-way transmission from dugout to goalmouth.
The Australian’s messages are now taking root all over the field.
Three straight wins have been put together for the first time since August, together with successive clean sheets claimed for just the third time this season.
Dundee United and Hearts first have to be pegged back before
Rangers come into view. But with players and form gradually returning, so has the optimism.
Hart is comfortable with the added pressure that comes with the swashbuckling style Postecoglou demands.
‘With the way we play, we’re going to leave situations that we are going to have to handle,’ he admitted.
‘We’re going to have to step up in certain moments, and sometimes we won’t, it’s as simple as that.
‘There are going to be moments where we might concede one or two, but it’s our job to be as consistent as we possibly can and be in the best positions we possibly
can to maintain attacks. ‘That’s how we want to play, we want to maintain attacks and we need to be there for big moments.
‘We feel like we are going to score every game but we’re certainly not going to be a team that sits in and tries to hold on to leads.
‘It’s not new anymore — it’s the way we play. And we’re used to that and we understand there are certain risks that come with it, and we take responsibility for that.’
The great irony is that — by common consent — it was Hart’s inability to play this way that saw him marked down by Guardiola.
Yet, there he was at Fir Park last week, revelling in the role of sweeper keeper, even performing a Cruyff turn. It’s amazing how far a bit of faith can take you.
‘I’ve had a few of those moments throughout my career and none of them are planned,’ laughed Hart.
‘I was trying to hold on to the ball for as long as I could to create space, took my eye off the ball, and next minute I was passing it to Boli (Bolingoli). I kind of blanked out a little bit!
‘Ideally, I don’t want to be doing that again but, if you have to, I suppose you have to.
‘It’s a lot of fun. I’ve always felt like I was capable of doing it, and with the right system and the right movement, I’m enjoying it.’