Joe Hart has been exemplary in his new role at Celtic Park since his arrival just three weeks ago – bar Thursday evening’s shocking opener at Alkmaar – and hopefully the good times outweigh the bad for the former England keeper.
Hart, who has amassed 75 international caps for his country, didn’t win a trophy in his tenure as England’s number one – however, he clocked up plenty of brilliant performances along the way.
Yet, in a weird sense, one of the games he will be most remembered for is the 2-2 draw against Scotland at Hampden in June 2017 – with the shot-stopper being beaten twice in the last ten minutes by Leigh Griffiths, both from free-kicks.
Hart, now 34, was spared his blushes by Harry Kane that day, with the wantaway Tottenham captain scoring an equaliser in stoppage time.
But he has not been let off lightly by his team-mates, who were quick to remember that he and Griffiths have previous history in Scotland’s second city.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Hart said:
I spoke to (Celtic manager) Ange Postecoglou. I told him how I was feeling, how I was happy to go and play on a park because I don’t need this **** any more. I said you can take this as me being vulnerable, I just need a bit of love.
The first day I walked in, I could see Leigh Griffiths looking at me in the dressing room. One of the lads said to me: ‘Leigh’s got a bomb on him, you know?’ There was a bit of silence…
I just said: ‘Yes… yes, I know!’ and they all started hooting! It’s been brilliant, really.
I thought about the size of Celtic, that legendary home support and I thought: ‘Yeah! I have got to ****ing do that!’
I’ve done the Premier League. I wanted to go and take this on.
I told the people who mattered to make it happen, Celtic did the best they could for me, which I really appreciated, and before I knew it I was on a plane to the Czech Republic to meet them. I’m looking forward to the future,” Hart said.
