Joe Hart: The Truth About England, Guardiola and Losing His Place at Man City

**Joe Hart** (0:02)
So I am just a young guy, happy guy from Shrewsbury, who grew up playing football. I didn't play football for any other reason, and I loved it, loved it. And then also, I'm a high level goalkeeper who stands in goal for some serious teams, has some very important people look back and think, don't worry Joe's taking care of it. And I love that as well. When you reflect on your England career, all the times that we went out at tournaments, we just fell the wrong side of tight games. At the tournament, see you later, Patti Bags, Ofsky.

**Jake Humphrey** (0:31)
So the World Cup has started and with it of course comes all kinds of questions that we always ask about England, about pressure, about tournament football, about how can we get over the line this time, maybe this is the year. Well obviously here's hoping and I think those questions are something that few people know better than today's guest Joe Hart. He was England's number one for over a decade, won two Premier Leagues at Manchester City, played in World Cups and Euros and then when Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, almost overnight Joe had to realise that his face didn't fit. But he didn't crumble, instead he rebuilt. And in this conversation he talks about the mental block that nearly ended his city career, how a sports psychologist changed the way he understood relationships, what it was really like inside England's tournament camps and the extraordinary final chapter at Celtic that brought everything full circle. So this is a man who carries two versions of himself everywhere he goes, the warrior in the tunnel and the kid from Shrewsbury, who still can't quite believe any of it actually happened. But we jump straight in at the moment, a very angry Joe who once walked outside at the Etihad across to where I was broadcasting live on the television. And I'll always remember seeing this face out of the corner of my eye and thinking, what is going on here? Honestly, it was kind of terrifying, but it also showed, I think, an amazing bit of leadership.
Let's start with that story as we welcome Joe Hart.
How are you doing?

**Joe Hart** (2:14)
I'm good, thank you.

**Jake Humphrey** (2:14)
It's nice to see you again.

**Joe Hart** (2:16)
You too.

**Damian Penaud** (2:17)
Can I just interject here, because I want to make sure that last time you two saw each other, you was having a crack at him.

**Joe Hart** (2:22)
I was.
It wasn't actually, no, we've worked together since, but... Have we? Yeah, no, we worked together on BT or whatever it's called now.

**Jake Humphrey** (2:30)
Oh yeah, I remember you came and did a game, yeah, you're right.

**Damian Penaud** (2:32)
But go on, Joe, tell us the story. I wouldn't wear your version of this.

**Jake Humphrey** (2:36)
I can't believe you've gone here straight away at the beginning.

**Joe Hart** (2:39)
You want to hear how I was feeling at the time? Right, okay, so I am mid-20s, pumped up on life, pumped up on football, pumped up on adrenaline. Jake's coming to the sport, he's working for a new channel, BT, trying to do things a little bit different, I think it's fair to say. And I was watching you present, and I felt like you were close to kind of making a joke of everything, of a lot of people that I had a lot of love and a lot of respect for and I felt protected from. We had a player called Martin D. Michaelis, who came in and did a great job. He was Manuel Pellegrini signing, and he wasn't playing out of his skin, let's say. A few things were happening his way.
Played in the FA Cup, Wigan.
I was on the bench, it was the FA Cup. I think we lost, I think we might have lost the game at the Etihad, and Martin had given a penalty away. There was a lot going on around his name at the time.
And I think the chairman of Wigan, you interviewed him after.

**Jake Humphrey** (3:37)
If you remember, Rosla was the manager.

**Joe Hart** (3:39)
Right.

**Jake Humphrey** (3:39)
And he played at Man City and named his son Colin, because he loved Colin Bell.

**Joe Hart** (3:43)
That was it.

**Jake Humphrey** (3:43)
Do you remember this? And you're totally right. I was making a joke about the fact that he'd named his son Colin Bell, and I said to him, maybe you'll name your next son Martin after Martin DiMichele's one year's game.

**Joe Hart** (3:53)
So I'm in the gym, because I wasn't playing. I always like to work out after, because I prepare for the game like I should on the bench, wasn't playing, a lot of energy. And I was watching it, and I heard you say that. And I was Richard Wright was the third choice goal at the time. And he saw me. I was like, I'm not having that. I said, don't like it when people talk about someone and they can't defend themselves, because Martin would never do English TV.