BEING BACK ON TOP WARMS MY HART
CELTIC keeper Joe Hart took hold of his medal to join an illustrious band of clean-sweep stars.
The keeper is now alongside Sir Kenny Dalglish and Andrei Kanchelskis as the only men to lift all three domestic trophies in both England and Scotland.
Hart completed the set south of the border with Manchester City and now has the lot in Glasgow at Celtic.
But as he stood on the pitch at Hampden after full-time with the celebrations started, it wasn’t the medal tally that really hit him.
It was the moment. The memories that will be with him even if the medals are placed away out of sight for safe keeping.
Hart said: “I stood there trying to take it in when You’ll Never Walk Alone was being sung. You try your best to take that in but it’s really hard.
“But that ain’t going to happen forever. I’m not going to be inside the white lines forever, so it just makes me happy, it just makes me smile.
“The medals are great, the awards are great but I’ve learned with older age and having been through what I’ve been through in football, like anyone has who is my age, there’s more to it.
And it’s just a me. It’s amazing for my close network, my close friends and my family (above), who’ve been with me the whole way.
“I was lucky enough to experience what it felt like to be top of the world and winning and competing.
“Then I obviously had an in-between time where that feeling wasn’t necessarily there, but the hard work was still there and the same people stayed close and dedicated to what we were doing.
“I stayed calm because there are very few players who get to win every single year, so to get it back and be up here playing in front of huge crowds with medals round our necks – I say that because I represent a lot of people as well as the people at Celtic – it’s a good feeling.
“That’s five trophies in two seasons, which is a great effort. I’m really privileged to be part of that and we’re really lucky to do that.”
Hart didn’t have a lot to do at Hampden despite sub Dan Mackay’s header beating him, as goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Liel Abada and Jota (below) won the trophy for his side.
Celtic were not sparkling but Hart said: “We did OK. We would have loved to have gone out there and played slick football but credit to Inverness, they put up a great fight. But we did what we needed to do to win.”
That brought the celebrations of their historic achievement but asked if he was thinking about helping set a world record of eight trebles, Hart said: “Not really. I don’t think you can until you stop [playing]. I really don’t.
“Obviously, we’re really proud of what we’ve done, but once you get a taste for something you just
want more.”