Manchester City's Joe Hart: Player Version of Ian Holloway?

After becoming No. 1 goalkeeper for Manchester City and England, Joe Hart has now become Premier League's top dog in terms of airtime entertainment value with classic lines aplenty.

Former Manchester United defender David May has organised a celebration on Friday night, ahead of the mouth-watering Manchester derby, in honour of City's 35-year spell without a major trophy.

This prompted Hart, seemingly the chief player spokesperson for the Eastlands club, to tell May enjoy such a night because it won't be happening again.

"It's not false because we haven't won anything for 35 years," admitted the 23-year-old shot-stopper. "But I assume they are doing it because there won't be many more of them."

In the same interview, the Shrewsbury-born lad had to defend in his own performance on the pitch after blunders against Leicester City in the FA Cup and old club Birmingham City.

He came out with a classic line, brushing off criticism by saying, "I don't feel the knives have been out for me. You have to take the rough with the smooth."

And that's something you don't read or hear often in Premier League football. Imagine someone like Wayne Rooney making such a comment, saying he doesn't feel "spooned out of the team" by Dimitar Berbatov or Javier Hernandez. It just wouldn't happen.

The corkers don't stop there from Hart, who it appears is becoming the Premier League's player version of Blackpool manager Ian Holloway.

In an interview about his place in the England team, Hart said he still didn't feel as if he was his country's No. 1 shot stopper.

"I don't even know if I am England's No. 1. It's not a case of 'I am,' it's a case of 'I am hungry for more,'" said Hart, before coming out with a brilliant line. "I don't look back and give myself a pat on the back or a punch in the face."

You can see it now: the City squad the day after the Manchester derby going through a video analysis session with the coaches, replaying a rare blunder from Hart, who suddenly stands up and shouts "f**k's sake Joe!" before punching himself in the face.

It got even better later in the interview, when Hart was talking about Robert Green at the World Cup and how the West Ham keeper battled back from adversity in the England-USA match.

Hart admitted, "It sounds weird for me to say because I am not his dad or anything, but I was dead proud of how [Robert Green] reacted."

And what about Joe himself when he makes mistake, what's his advice?

"How do I deal with making mistakes? I apologise first and foremost. I don't want to let the team down. That is what hurts me most," revealed Hart. "I keep being given these great opportunities, and making mistakes is not the way to repay my family, my friends and the manager who has given me this chance.

"Say sorry, move on and be a better goalkeeper because of the mistake."

The City No.1 also refuted claims that a lack of focus in matches was the reason for such mistakes.

He said, "What else I could be considered to be concentrating on? It's not as if there is a movie going on in the background or you are doing your homework and a fly comes into the room and you go after it."

So what does Hart think about this Saturday's sensational clash at Old Trafford?

He didn't give an interview directly about the match to the media this week (surprisingly), but another great quote from the man, given after City's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa, sums up his thoughts.

"There is no shoulda, woulda, coulda. We've got to come here and get results."

Source: Sky Sports