Hart holds no grudge against Guardiola after Manchester City exit, calling him 'superb manager'

Joe Hart has said he bears no ill will toward Pep Guardiola following the Spaniard’s public admission that he regrets not giving the goalkeeper a proper opportunity at Manchester City. Hart, a three-time consecutive Premier League Golden Glove winner between 2010 and 2013, played just one competitive game under Guardiola — a Champions League qualifier — before loan moves to Torino and West Ham preceded a permanent transfer to Burnley.

Guardiola, who managed his final game for Manchester City on Sunday, had recently opened up about the episode, telling reporters: “I didn’t give Joe Hart a chance to be with me, to prove himself [and] how good a keeper he was. And I should have done. Life is sometimes — I have to take decisions, and sometimes I am not fair enough.”

Hart responded with characteristic directness. “I don’t hold grudges. I gave my reasons, he gave his and he’s the one with power. I liked him before, I like him now,” the former England international said. He went on to describe Guardiola as “a superb manager” while acknowledging his own belief that he deserved more of a chance. “I felt like I was good enough to certainly be given a chance, but that is football, that is life.”

The goalkeeper also admitted that Guardiola’s belated acknowledgement carried unexpected emotional weight. “I didn’t expect [Pep’s comments]. It meant more to me than I expected,” Hart said, before adding that his career continued to flourish after leaving the Etihad. “My world kept spinning — I’ve had some amazing opportunities.”

The comments mark a notably warm conclusion to a chapter that Hart himself described less charitably in an Instagram Live session in 2020, when he said Guardiola had made it “very clear” that he had to leave the club, while crediting the supporters for making equally clear that the decision was not theirs.

Guardiola’s tenure at Manchester City, which began in 2016, produced six Premier League titles and a Champions League among numerous other honours. Hart’s exit in that same opening season remains one of the more human footnotes of an otherwise dominant era — and, by the accounts of both men, one that has now been put to rest.