“Why Would I Know How” – Joe Hart Opens Up on Disagreement With Pep Guardiola Prior to Manchester City Exit

Joe Hart was an invaluable player for Manchester City for several years, arguably helping put the club in the place where they are today.

After moving to the Etihad Stadium in 2006, and following several loan spells to Tranmere Rovers, Blackpool and Birmingham City, Joe Hart made the number one position his own in Manchester.

Hart was certainly a key part of the 2010/11 squad that brought Manchester City their first trophy in 32 years, when the squad claimed the 2011 edition of the FA Cup. He was then also instrumental in winning two Premier League titles for the club in 2012 and 2014, wrestling the footballing dominance in Manchester from the red side.

However, following the announcement and introduction of former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola to Manchester City in the summer of 2016, fortunes soon turned against Joe Hart.

The media soon caught on that the then-England goalkeeper was not part of Pep Guardiola’s long-term plans for the club and, instead, was to be one of the initial casualties of the Catalan’s restructuring process.

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Joe Hart has finally revealed the details of the conversation he had with the Manchester City manager, which spelled the end of his career, now six years on from the incident.

“I wanted the opportunity to be coached by one of the best at it,” he said, during a recent appearance on the ‘In The Stiffs’ podcast.

“Of course I didn’t know how to do it, why would I know how to do something that I’d never been asked to do or taught to do? I suppose he was right, I couldn’t do it, he couldn’t just drop me into a team to play like he wanted to at that moment in time.”

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Hart continued, “I didn’t agree with it, but looking back and even at the time, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I’d love to be here and be a part of it, but if that’s not what you see we need to work out the best way to go.”

“I couldn’t say to him, ‘Are you mad, just watch me go out there and play this exact system’, I didn’t know it, not one of us knew it, but goalkeeper is a very specific position, and he was ahead of his time in making it that position, so the fact he knew he couldn’t just drop me into it that was enough for him.”

Joe Hart closed, “It was taken away from me, but so what? I’m not bigger than anyone and if that’s my path then that’s my path. The people of Manchester City will forever be in my heart, I’ll forever be grateful for that, but the team, the hierarchy, they’re businessmen.”

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The goalkeeper had wanted to move to another Premier League club or elsewhere in Europe during that summer, but potential moves were blocked over fees, leaving him to settle on Italian club Torino.

“The season had started, and I was on the bench, he’d put Willy Caballero in goal, no disrespect to Willy but it was a move to say to me, ‘You are not playing’,” he said.

Joe Hart continued, “I knew I had to go but stuff kept going wrong, it was done and dusted here then there was a loan fee. I was close to a couple, then I was away with England, it needed to be done.”

“[Clubs had] already planned to do what they needed to do. I had four years left on a big deal, even to take wages on was tough in a structure where things had already been sorted, let alone buy me.”

Joe Hart finished his Manchester City career having made a staggering 348 appearances, claiming six trophies and four Premier League Golden Glove awards in the process.

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