Firstly, please accept my apologies for the title of this piece – I couldn’t resist!!
Secondly, my timing of this blog is deliberate. We have just seen Joe Hart produce the kind of display I knew he was capable of. If De Gea had pulled of that type of performance the media would be waxing lyrical about him. But it wasn’t De Gea. It was our Joe Hart. England’s Number 1.
I am going to annoy a few people with this next statement but I truly believe Joe was our best signing of the Su
mmer and if we can keep him it will be a massive statement from the Board. There is a huge argument for Arnie of course but if you look at all of the top teams through history they all have one thing in common – a top class Keeper. I think we have that in Joe Hart. I seem to remember our record breaking season in 1986 was built on the solid foundations of Phil Parkes. Would we have finished 3rd with an inferior keeper? No, we wouldn’t.
Joe has had his critics and rightly so. His performances at the start of the season were below par (golf pun intended after the brilliant Masters over the weekend). But guess what? He was
playing behind a poor defence and under a poor manager. The whole team was responsible for the start we made but it appeared Hart got the blame more than others.
He joined us low on confidence after his trip to Italy with Torino but they say that form is temporary and class is permanent. Joe is a class keeper!! He justifiably got the shirt back from Adrian and he will now keep it for the rest of the season. And I think he will keep the England shirt too
Adrian is a firm fans favourite but that doesn’t make him amazing. Indeed he was dropped last season for Darren Randolph, a keeper now plying his trade in the Championship. I always feel more confident with Hart in goal over Adrian. Both have got a error in them but so do all keepers. But in Hart we have a presence that Adrian cannot compare with.
There is of course talk about changes over the summer. Butland has been mentioned as a possible target to replace Hart/Adrian. But he is hardly world class and has made some proper howlers this season. Oh, and he might get relegated too!!!! Not all his fault of course but you
can’t blame Hart for all the goals we concede but then say you want Butland because he is a great prospect.
If we sign Hart I will be over the moon. He is a leader. He still has 7 or 8 top years left in him and at the age of 30 he is experienced enough to take our team forward. A good team begins on a solid foundation. I don’t see us getting any better than Joe Hart. If people can suggest a keeper who is better and will come to us then I am all ears. But I cannot think of one. I was thinking the other day about Caballero at Chelsea or Ospina at Arsenal. Both good keepers but they are not better than Joe Hart.
Joe, you have my 100% support and I for one look forward to seeing you in a West Ham shirt for a few years to come. If you want to stay that is!!