From Premier League title winner and England no.1 to ball boy screamer and Pep Guardiola’s least favourite goalkeeper – the highs and lows of Joe Hart
Joe Hart will retire after a long career filled with medals and memories.
After 21 years at professional level, the former England goalkeeper has decided to hang up his gloves at the end of the season when he will 37 years old and it is fair to say that he has had some career.
Whether it was winning Premier League medals with Manchester City or blowing his top at a ball boy, there will not be a shortage of moments in his career highlights reel.
Hart has played at the highest level, being No. 1 at City for many years and earning 75 England caps in a career that has taken him from Shrewsbury to Turin, South Africa and Glasgow.
In total, for club and country, he has made 765 appearances with more to come before the season ends.
But when he looks back on his long and esteemed career, what moments will he look back on with fondness? And others not so much so.
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Wild celebrations
Hart displaced Shay Given as Man City's no.1 in 2009 and was there for the most dramatic day in Premier League history.
When City won the title in 2012, they pipped rivals Manchester United for bragging rights on the final day in the final second of the season.
In a match that has since been etched into the club's folklore, City came from 2-1 down to beat QPR 3-2 in stoppage time with Martin Tyler's 'Agueroooo' shout entering into football history.
As half of Manchester celebrated and the other side bemoaned, one man encapsulated the exultation of City supporters and that man was Hart, running around with his arms outstretched in disbelief, jubilation, joy, all and so many emotions on an incredible day of football.
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England no.1
Hart made his England debut against Trinidad and Tobago in 2008 and represented his country for the final time against Brazil in 2017.
In between then he was a member of the 2010 World Cup squad and was no.1 in 2014. His 75 caps puts him level with David Seaman and two ahead of World Cup winner Gordon Banks.
However, his 43 clean sheets at international level is the highest total for any England goalkeeper who played more than 50 times.
Etihad exile
If that his biggest high at City, his lowest low would ultimately be the arrival of Pep Guardiola as manager in 2016, who made one of his first actions as manager to axe Hart from the squad.
Claudio Bravo was signed from Barcelona who took his spot in the net and Hart never played for City in the Premier League ever again, only ever playing once more in a dead rubber Champions League match.
He was subsequently loaned to Torino and a year later in 2017 to West Ham but he lost his confidence and thus his form, eventually leaving for Burnley in 2018 where he played second fiddle to Tom Heaton.
A year on the bench for Tottenham Hotspur between 2020 and 2021 followed before signing for Celtic in 2021, five years after his last City game, where he rediscovered his winning mentality, celebrating successive title wins in 2022 and 2023.
Messi vs Hart
Arguably Hart's best ever performance came when City needed him most, against Barcelona in a 2015 Champions League game.
City were trailing 2-1 to Lionel Messi's Barca with the Argentine great in his pomp.
However, the match became something of a sideshow as Hart went on to become a one-man Messi foil, making 10 stops to keep City in the game.
It was the most saves made by a goalkeeper in a Champions League match that season while he Messi was full of praise when he said: "Joe Hart had an absolutely fantastic game."
Torino torment
When Hart made the surprise switch to Torino in 2016 after being told by Guardiola he was not wanted, the goalkeeper was expected to recapture his form and prove the Catalan coach wrong.
That could not have been farther from the truth as what followed was a series of high-profile errors in the Torino net.
That includes one incident against Inter Milan when he inexplicably dived for a cross like it was a piledriving shot only to completely miss and give Antonio Candreva a free hit at goal.
It did not take long for Torino to sign his replacement Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, signalling that his time in Turin would only be for one season.
Ball boy bedlam
Hart is a man that wears his, pardon the pun, heart on his sleeve and whether that is belting out the national anthem or screaming at ball boys is a lottery.
The latter occurred during England's World Cup match against Italy in 2014 as Andrea Pirlo's long-range effort crashed off the crossbar and into the crowd.
And if one ball boy was left starstruck by the Italian maestro, Hart was not impressed as cameras picked up the goalkeeper running up to the advertising boards, screaming at the ball boy to hurry up before kicking the boards in fury.
Shot through the Hart
While for many years Hart was revered as England's best between the sticks, hearts (again, sorry) were broken in 2016 when Iceland claimed a historic 2-1 win over the Three Lions in the quarter-finals.
In what has been billed as arguably England's most embarrassing moment, Hart was at the centre of the misery when Iceland scored twice in quick succession to put them 2-1 up just minutes after Wayne Rooney had put Roy Hodgson's men a goal ahead from the penalty spot.
Ragnar Sigurdsson netted an equaliser just two minutes later before the killer punch from Kolbeinn Sigporsson, whose shot slipped through Hart's fingers and ended England's run at the Euros - with Hodgson resigning immediately after.
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THE END
Hart has winners medals in the three major trophies in England and Scotland and may end the season with another title, but it will be his last.
“For all he has done in football, Joe deserves huge praise and congratulations, he has been such a brilliant asset to Celtic of course and the wider game at the highest levels, domestically and internationally," Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said.