JOE HART has revealed a chat with Ange Postecoglou convinced him he still had a future in top-class football.
The former England international keeper, who was capped 75 times by his country, was understudy to club captain and France World Cup-winning keeper Hugo Lloris at Spurs.
The prospects of a first-team run at the London outfit were remote when the new Celtic manager made his move to bring him to Scotland.
CROWNING GLORY…Joe Hart celebrates his second successive title triumph after Celtic’s 2-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.
The Hoops had been plagued by problems in the No.1 position following the return of Fraser Forster to Southnampton at the end of his second loan season at Parkhead. Ironically, the towering shotstopper eventually replaced Hart at Spurs.
Vasilis Barkas, bought for £4.5million from AEK Athens by Neil Lennon, failed to live up to his reputation and Scott Bain and Conor Hazard were also brought in without any showing any consistency.
Postecoglou made his move with a £1million bid and a three-year contract in August 2021 – and the switch has become one of football’s great glove affairs.
Hart, who also had stops at Torino and Burnley after falling out of favour at Manchester City, said: “I spoke to Ange and I thought that if something came up I didn’t want to do, I am not going to do it.
“If it means that I need to sit for another year and then that was me out of football, so be it.
A BIG HAND…Joe Hart acknowledges the Celtic supporters.
“I have done what I need to do in football. Respectfully, I didn’t know much about his background and he was so cool. I probably sounded like a strange guy as I said I needed to speak first.
“I didn’t mean it in a rude way, but this is what’s gone on, this is why I am struggling with football and for me to work, this is how you will get the best version of me if we do get there.
“Give me a chance to show what I can do, all I want to do is be part of something.”
Hart, speaking to The Fozcast, added: “I didn’t know he was a total football manager, I didn’t know he’d turned up to Celtic and hadn’t brought any staff with him.
“Just walked in and he is an awesome force, an unbelievable coach, a really strong presence. Asks a lot of people, but because he believes they can do it.”