Why Joe Hart and City's players still trust Khaldoon despite the 115 charges

Joe Hart drew widespread mockery on Monday after telling BBC 5 Live that he had no reason to doubt Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak’s public statements on the club’s 115 Premier League charges — but the former goalkeeper’s position is more revealing than it first appears.

“My honest opinion is I’ve got no reason not to trust Khaldoon. What he said is enough for me,” Hart said. “I loved how he spoke. I loved the letter because that was from someone who cared about the club.”

The reaction from many observers was swift. City are widely expected to be found guilty of the majority of charges by the independent three-man panel. City CEO Ferran Soriano reportedly told the bosses of other European clubs on Monday that the Blues intend to appeal any verdict — a signal that the club itself anticipates an unfavourable outcome. Neither City nor the Premier League have publicly denied the reports.

Hart’s loyalty is easy to dismiss as blind faith, but there is a more nuanced explanation. He spent several of the years under investigation at the club and knows Al Mubarak personally. That relationship, built over time and reinforced by Al Mubarak’s reputation as a persuasive figure in sport, business and politics, makes it far easier to take the chairman at his word.

Al Mubarak is also a visible presence at the club on a regular basis, which deepens his relationships with players and staff beyond the purely transactional. Hart is not alone in this. Pep Guardiola, Erling Haaland, and Enzo Maresca have all expressed trust in the club’s position on the charges. Haaland reportedly called Al Mubarak when he joined and told him he would win the Champions League for him — and did exactly that, months after the charges first became public.

There is also a personal dimension for Hart. Guilty verdicts on the scale alleged would cast a shadow over the titles and trophies he won during his time at the club, giving him an understandable, if not entirely objective, reason to hope the chairman’s assurances hold up.

The principle of innocent until officially guilty remains valid, however unlikely a full acquittal now seems. What Hart’s reaction illustrates is that Al Mubarak’s greatest asset in managing this crisis may not be legal strategy, but the personal loyalty he has cultivated among the people who wore the shirt.