Former Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart may have hung up his gloves just a few months ago but he is already stuck in his new job as Match of the Day commentator.
The 37-year-old actor, who was announced as a new addition to the iconic show’s cast alongside Theo Walcott, was back in the studio on Sunday to catch up on the weekend’s action.
Hart has been impressive in his first few showings and has been praised for providing insight from a goalkeeper’s perspective after years of playing at the highest level. He retired with Celtic, who won the Scottish Premiership, at the end of last season and has also represented the likes of West Ham, Burnley and Torino throughout his career.
He also made 75 appearances for England, winning two Premier League titles and as many FA Cups and League Cups with Manchester City; he was also awarded the Premier League Golden Glove award on four separate occasions.
Although Hart gained a reputation for speaking out on the field, he tended to stay away from the spotlight, with little known about his private life. Here are some things you might not know about the new MOTD expert.
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huge net worth
Hart is believed to have a staggering net worth of around £23 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
While at Manchester City, he became the world’s highest-paid goalkeeper when he penned a new contract worth £120,000 a week, excluding bonuses.
He has worked with brands such as Nike, Umbro, Hugo Boss and Vauxhall, and has also appeared in commercials for Head & Shoulders shampoo, where rival fans were seen mocking him at the time.
His wife’s fight with Katie Price
After dating his wife, Kimberly, for six years, Hart married in Florence, Italy, in June 2015.
They have two children together, a son and a daughter. Although little is known about Kimberly, it was previously reported that she is a beautician.
But he hit the headlines in 2015 when he was involved in a public row with Katie Price, and the media personality ruffled feathers with a tweet on the couple’s wedding day.
Hart and Price are believed to have met at a charity event in 2010, but it is not known whether they saw each other again after that. But the model said in a now-deleted tweet: “All Harts dating married couple – will she tell him the truth about us?”
The following year, during England’s Euro 2016 campaign, he added fuel to the fire by sharing a photo of himself hugging a wax statue of Hart at Madame Tussauds in Blackpool, adding the caption: “Had so much fun with these boys today, well done England.”
A source told The Sun at the time: “This is not the perfect start to marriage. Considering the previous day’s highs, this is a welcome distraction. “Unfortunately, Katie seems to have realized the impact this tweet could have on the newlyweds just hours after posting it.”
Another added: “Kim doesn’t care. She thinks Katie is a clueless bitch.”
Furious live TV explosion
In 2014, Hart was in goal for England in their group stage match against Italy at the World Cup in Brazil.
Things were not looking good for England, with the Azzurri leading 2-1 going into the final moments of the game, and Hart let his anger boil over, capturing his anger on live TV.
After Andrea Pirlo narrowly missed Italy’s third goal with a stunning free-kick effort that rattled the bar, the goalkeeper wanted to get things started again and shouted at the ballboy, “give me the baller.” “Angrily kicking billboards.
A clip of the incident went viral, with many criticizing Hart for his outburst. However, others defended him and suggested that his teammates should have shown the same passion throughout the match.
The goalkeeper later addressed the incident while appearing on Jake Humphrey’s High Performance podcast, admitting his behavior was “100 per cent wrong”. But he said he was “desperate” to keep England in the World Cup and was “fed up” with the batsmen’s slow response.
“So deep in the jungle, in the Amazon rainforest, I saw one of the craziest free kicks ever against Italy, and the whole game it was ball boys or ball girls ball boys and ball girls,” he said.
“I was there to win a game and we were down 2-1, I think we were in extra time and I needed the ball. I was tired of waiting for the ball to come back.” Because I realized there wasn’t much time left and that’s how I felt.”
He added: “That’s 100 per cent wrong. I shouldn’t have shouted at anyone ‘Give me the ball’ but I needed that ball because I wanted to put it in and try to keep England on the pitch for the World Cup.”
“It was just a case of me being desperate to keep my country in the World Cup and looking back, it happened a long time ago and it’s only recently that everyone seems to be shouting it in my face.”