Manchester City: Change Of Hart

Fans of every club will have their own favorites. Players who come to your club, give their all and become the fabric of the side. As City fans we went through this emotional wrench as we bid farewell to Pablo Zabaletta. The honorary Manc joined City pre takeover, if only by a day. Rejecting Juventus in order to play for Manchester City, he never expected to stay so long or achieve so much.

This week there was a somewhat weird farewell to another legend, Joe Hart. Born in April 19th 1987 in Shrewsbury, Joe joined City from his home town side in 2006. A fee, at the time reported to be between ￡600k and ￡1.5 million, apparently was closer to ￡100k. Bargain!

There were many bumps in the road for Hart after signing for City. Tim Flowers had recommended the youngster to Manchester City, citing the potential showed by the teenager. Hart signed and then made his debut on October 14th 2006 against Sheffield United. Injuries to Andreas Isaksson and another City legend, Nicky Weaver, saw the 19 year, 6 month old start between the sticks.

2007 he was loaned to Tranmere, where he spent the January before moving to Blackpool from April until the seasons end, where the seasiders won all five games featuring Hart. Sven Goran Eriksson brought the soon to be England International back to Manchester where he became number one for the Blues.

He was in goal for the derby game on the 50th anniversary of the Munich tragedy, when Manchester City completed the League double over their rivals since the 1969/70 season. It was a beautiful moment for Blues fans but the season would end with an 8-1 defeat to Middlesbrough, the firing of Sven and our Chairman, Thaksin Shinawatra, in trouble in his homeland.
    
We weren't to know then how the next decade would pan out. To be fair, when the takeover happened, Joe began slipping down the pecking order under Mark Hughes. Finding himself out on loan to Birmingham in June 2009 Joe has recently revealed he thought THAT could have been the end of his Manchester City journey.

With the firing of Hughes, and Harts best season in the Premier League with Birmingham, came the decision of a recall. With Roberto Mancini now installed as head coach he sent Massimo Battara to look at him.

Of course the decision made then has led to the history we have now enjoyed as fans, club and player. At the end of last season we bid farewell to Yaya Toure in a special way. The Ivorian is credited with vital goals for City including the one against United in the FA Cup Semi Finals, and then Final. However, those two goals would not have meant as much had Joey not kept clean sheets in both games.

Lifting our first trophy since 1976 Joe, and the defensive unit in general, are often overlooked. Joe was vital again in the League game against Spurs where he also kept a clean sheet. That vital point led us to Champions League football for the first time in our history.

Iconic, emotional footage of Aguero's last minute goal against QPR to win the Premier League is what we remember. Just as iconic though is the embrace between Gael Clichy and Hart at the other end. Incidently, both could reunite on the field tomorrow night. Harts new club, Burnley are in Europa League action against Clichy's current home.

In his time at Manchester City, Joe Hart has won the Premier League twice, an FA Cup and two League Cups. Individually he has secured four Premier League Golden Gloves and been in the PFA team of the year twice. Alongside that, he frustrated Lionel Messi to no end in the last 16 of Champions League play!

Appearing for Manchester City 348 times he is head and shoulders above other Manchester City keepers for European appearances with 62. The other Joe (Corrigan), only has 37 and the current first choice on 9.

Of course he missed out on our more recent successes with the Blues with the arrival of Pep Guardiola. Loaned out to Torino and West Ham, Hart has not had a great two seasons. Dropped by England for the World Cup it was really devastating to see. A slight bitter taste has been left in City fans mouths because of the lack of send off he got.

A club legend arriving before Toure he will, it seems, be honored upon Burnley's visit to the Etihad in October. Talks are ongoing with naming a training ground after Hart as recognition of his contribution. All in all it has not been the ideal way to depart for a guy who has been so important for us on numerous occasions. I do, however, believe the City fans will welcome him warmly and make him feel the love he felt over the last decade plus whenever our two sides shall meet.