Background and career
Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English football pundit, coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He was most recently the goalkeeper coach of EFL League Two club Shrewsbury Town. He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury Town in the Football Conference and League Two. In 2006, he moved up to the Premier League with Manchester City, having attracted the attention of several other top-flight teams. In his first season, he spent time on loan at Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool. Hart had a loan spell with Birmingham City in the 2009–10 season, during which he was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year and was voted as the Premier League goalkeeper of the season in recognition of his performances. He returned to Manchester City for the 2010–11 season and won the Golden Glove for keeping the most clean sheets throughout the Premier League season. Hart replicated this feat in the 2011–12 season as Manchester City won the Premier League title. He won the Golden Glove for the third year in a row the following season, and won again in 2012–13 for his fourth in five years. In between, Hart won a second Premier League title with Manchester City in 2013–14. With over 100 Premier League clean sheets, Hart holds the joint record for the most Golden Glove awards (four). With the arrival of new manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in 2016, Hart became the second-choice goalkeeper and made only one appearance in the UEFA Champions League before moving on loan to Torino and West Ham United in successive seasons. In August 2018, he moved to Burnley on a permanent transfer after injuries to the club's two regular goalkeepers. When they returned from injury, Hart again found himself in the role of backup and he left the club at the end of his contract in June 2020. In August 2020, Hart signed with Tottenham Hotspur on a two-year deal. A year later, he signed for Scottish Premiership side Celtic. At Celtic, Hart rejuvenated his career, winning seven honours in three seasons at Celtic Park, including three consecutive Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish League Cups and two Scottish Cups. He retired at the end of the 2023–24 season. A former regular for England at Under-21 level, Hart made his senior international debut in June 2008, and was recognised as England's first-choice goalkeeper from 2010 to 2017. He gained 75 caps, kept 43 clean sheets and was selected in England's squads for two FIFA World Cups and two UEFA European Championships.
Hart was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, to Charles Hart, who sold gym equipment, and his wife Louise, a nursery school teacher. He attended Oxon Primary School, followed by Meole Brace School in Shrewsbury, where he was head boy in his final year. As a schoolboy, he was an equally competent cricketer and briefly played for Shrewsbury CC in the Birmingham and District Premier League and also spent two years in Worcestershire's youth squads, playing alongside England cricketer Steven Davies.
While still a 15-year-old schoolboy, Hart travelled with the first-team squad of his hometown club, Shrewsbury Town, to Exeter City on 1 February 2003. He was a non-playing substitute on that occasion and fulfilled that role again versus Rochdale at Gay Meadow on 1 March 2003, still some six weeks short of his 16th birthday. This match yielded Shrewsbury's final victory in a season that culminated in relegation to the Football Conference. During the one season that Shrewsbury spent in the Conference, Hart made his senior debut on 20 April 2004, the day after his 17th birthday. He played the full 90 minutes in the match against Gravesend & Northfleet. Four days later, he conceded three at Morecambe. Hart did not play again until April of the following year, as Scott Howie dominated goalkeeping duties. With Shrewsbury back in the Football League and struggling in the newly renamed League Two, Hart played six matches, conceding four goals. From the start of the 2005–06 season, Hart made the step up into the first team, and became the club's first-choice goalkeeper. He played a full 46-match league season, conceding 55 goals. Despite conceding more than one goal per game, Hart won plaudits for his personal performances, winning his first England under-19 cap in October 2005, as a substitute against Poland. Hart also found admirers in the Premier League, with several top-flight scouts attending matches. On 30 November 2005, the Shropshire Star newspaper reported that Everton goalkeeping coach Chris Woods had been present at Town's previous league match, a 4–3 loss at Rochdale. Manager Gary Peters said "Everton have been to watch him, but you could say the same about Arsenal, Chelsea and every other team in the Premiership." Speculation about his future continued for the duration of the season, and with the presence of their goalkeeping coach Tim Flowers at several matches, Manchester City became the most likely of his suitors. Hart was announced as the top League Two player for January 2006 in the PFA Fans' Player of the Month Awards, voted for by fans via the Professional Footballers' Association website. At the PFA Awards ceremony on 23 March 2006, it was announced that Hart had been voted as League Two's best goalkeeper for 2005–06 by his fellow professionals, earning him a place in the League Two PFA Team of the Year.
Hart's move to Manchester City was completed as soon as Hart returned from England under-19 duty in Belgium, where a defeat to Serbia and Montenegro in the elite round meant England failed to qualify for the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. It was reported at the time that City were to pay an initial £600,000 fee for Hart, rising to £1.5 million if undisclosed clauses were achieved, but John Wardle, then City chairman, revealed in 2012 that the transfer fee was actually £100,000. Hart was recommended to the City hierarchy by the club's goalkeeping coach Tim Flowers who believed he had great potential. Hart made his debut for City on 14 October 2006 after injuries ruled out Andreas Isaksson and Nicky Weaver for the Premier League match against Sheffield United. He kept a clean sheet in the match, which finished goalless. Hart spent January 2007 on loan to League One club Tranmere Rovers. He made six appearances and conceded eight goals. He was then named in his then club manager Stuart Pearce's first squad in his part-time role as England U21 coach, alongside another goalkeeper uncapped at U21 level, Ben Alnwick. He was not chosen to start the match on 6 February 2007 against Spain, but did come on as a substitute late in the match. In April 2007, Hart joined Blackpool on loan as cover for the injured trio of Rhys Evans, Paul Rachubka and Lewis Edge. He kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 win for Blackpool away to Huddersfield Town on 9 April 2007, in his first appearance for the club. Blackpool won all five matches in which Hart appeared, including a 6–3 win away to Swansea City in his final appearance.
On his return from a successful loan spell at Blackpool, then Manchester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson named Hart as Manchester City's number one ahead of Andreas Isaksson. After his performance against Newcastle United, Eriksson named him as "one of the biggest talents in this country as a goalkeeper", and that he had the potential to become an England international in the future. Only months later, he made his England debut against Trinidad and Tobago on 1 June 2008. In October, he was inducted to Shropshire Schools & Colleges Football Association's Hall of Fame along with former teammate David Edwards in recognition of their achievements. Later that month, he signed a new five-year contract. After Isaksson's departure to PSV Eindhoven, Hart took the vacant number 1 jersey when the official squad numbers for the 2008–09 season were announced. However, his position as first-choice keeper was taken by Shay Given upon the Irishman's arrival at the club in January 2009.
Having made no appearances for City since Given's arrival, rumours began to emerge of a loan move away from Manchester. City secured the transfer of Stuart Taylor from Aston Villa on 23 June 2009, paving the way for Hart to leave. The following day it was announced that Hart would spend the 2009–10 Premier League season on loan to newly promoted Birmingham City. He made his debut in Birmingham's opening match of the season, a 1–0 defeat away to Manchester United. In the early part of the season, Hart made some errors which cost Birmingham City goals, and Maik Taylor's clean sheet against Manchester City, a match for which Hart was ineligible, left manager Alex McLeish with a selection dilemma. McLeish chose Hart, who kept his place in the starting 11 as Birmingham went on a club-record 12-match unbeaten run in the top division and set a Premier League record by fielding the same starting 11 for nine consecutive matches. His performances improved: against Chelsea in December, he "showed not only sharp judgment and reflexes, making three outstanding saves ... but a lack of fear also", despite needing staples in a gashed head sustained when diving at the feet of Salomon Kalou. Hart was voted Birmingham City's Player of the Year for 2009–10, and nominated for the 2010 PFA Young Player of the Year award alongside Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fàbregas and James Milner. Though Milner won that award, Hart earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year.
