Joe Hart needs to feel the love of the Celtic support to get his career back on track

By David Walton

August 3, 2021

If Joe Hart is to go on a be a success at Celtic, he needs to feel the love of the support from an early stage.

Fabrizio Romani last night reported that Hart had agreed to join Celtic in a £15k-per-week deal. The Daily Mail also reported similar, stating that he would sign a three-year contract and would have a medical set for today.

But you have to go back to the 2016/17 campaign in order to find a season in which Hart made over 30 appearances. Since then, he’s been a rotational shot-stopper or a flat-out bench-warmer.

He was the latter at Spurs last season, with only 10 games to his name with the North London club [Transfermarkt]. He’s undoubtedly gone through several confidence crises experiences throughout his career, and he’s taking a big risk coming up to Scotland.

But there’s so much to like about what Hart brings to the table. His EPL and international experience aside, we’re talking about a genuinely top-class shot-stopper. Or at least a player that once fit into that category.

Joe Hart can become a Celtic hero if he gets the support behind him

It’ll be down to Celtic to help him rediscover that form. By wrapping an arm around him and making Hart our number one, that will be step one complete.

Yes, he’ll make mistakes. We’ve seen throughout his career that he can be prone to the odd error. Especially with Ange Postecoglou determined to play out from the back. It’s imperative as supporters that we get behind Hart during what will be an initial bedding-in period.

This will be as big a change for the player as it will be for us. His shot-stopping ability is undeniable, but only if we can get him playing at the level of confidence he needs to perform at that level.

Hart has shown what he’s all about in the past. There’s no reason we can’t get help him rediscover his previous form, so long as we all remain patient with him.

And there are plenty of Celtic fans already seeing the positives of bringing Joe on board. Here’s a look at what the fans are saying about yesterday’s update:

In other news, Report: Celtic move for Liam Scales could be delayed due to UEL qualifier