Joe Hart

Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Celtic.

He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury Town in the Football Conference and League Two.

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.

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 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.

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 has gained 75 caps since his debut in 2008, keeping 43 clean sheets and was selected in England's squads for two FIFA World Cups and two UEFA European Championships.

On 22 February, 2024, Hart announced his intention to retire from football at the end of the 2023–24 season.

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.

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.

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.

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 Premier League 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 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.