Former Celtic goalkeeper Super Joe Hart is to continue with his punditry duties on the BBC and will appear as a studio pundit on Match of the Day during the new season.
Joe retired from playing at the end of last term after helping Celtic win a Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup double, winning seven major trophies at Celtic playing under both Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers.
The 37-year-old made 340 appearances in the English top flight and helped Manchester City win two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and the League Cup, twice.
Very excited, very proud
“I’m very excited, very proud, and looking forward to growing into an incredible role on something that I grew up watching,” super Joe told the BBC. “I want to try and give back as much as I can from the career I’ve had and keep learning.
“I’m thrilled to be in an around an incredible set up, learning first and foremost in a new part of my life.”
Having hung up his playing boots, Hart will be in the studio alongside regular host Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, when Match of the Day – which first aired in 1964 – returns for the new campaign on Saturday at 10.20pm.
“Match of the Day has stood the test of time,” Joe Hart said. “It’s never stood still. It’s always trying to grow and always trying to build, and always trying to bring the game to its viewers in any way it can.”
The Green Brigade in the North Curve
Hopefully Joe will find the time to get himself up to Paradise to join the Green Brigade in the North Curve, as he talked about while on the High Performance podcast shortly after the end of last season.
“I’d happily be in there and I will be in there at one point in my life. The throb, the songs, the passion for the club. I came out second half. I caught it out the corner of my eye, it must have already been up, I was trying to compute what was going on.
Struggled to compute what was going on
“I really struggled to compute what was going on – is that me? That’s me. They had a song they sang and then I had to flip out of it. I thought I’m trying to be professional here but I’ve got to appreciate this as the guy we talked about previously and I did.
“I just took it all in and I just had to clip myself in the jaw a couple of times, ‘right I’ve got a job to do.’ And then I kind of took myself back into it but then we had the trophy lift and families on the pitch and that club celebrates properly.
“In the last 13 years, won 12 leagues and still every single trophy is celebrated like it’s everything. I love that about the place. That was a special day. A day that will live with me forever and ever and ever, and everyone involved.”
