Man City chief Khaldoon Al Mubarak deserves Joe Hart’s wrath not his blind ‘trust’

Joe Hart has every right to be “proud” of what he achieved at Manchester City. No one expects players who won titles with City to welcome the asterisks that will soon adorn them. But Joe, those asterisks are coming.

Hart twice won the Premier League (2011-12 and 2013-14) and League Cup (2013-14 and 2015-16) as well as the FA Cup (2010-11) during his time at City, before the arrival of Pep Guardiola saw him jettisoned from the team and then the club as the Spaniard didn’t rate his ability to play out from the back.

He accepted his fate then, but is refusing to accept the writing on the wall now after City were found guilty on almost all charges by an independent panel investigating their financial wrongdoings between 2009 and 2018.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak maintains their innocence and poor, naive Hart has “got no reason not to trust” him.

“I’ve heard everyone else go down every single rabbit hole, every single wormhole, every single discussion,” Hart told BBC Sport.

“My honest opinion is I’ve got no reason not to trust Khaldoon. What he said is enough for me.

“I loved how he spoke. I loved the letter because that was from someone who cared about the club.”

Hart says he “can’t get involved in the ifs, buts and maybes” before the Premier League release an official statement on the verdict, and said it therefore hadn’t “crossed my mind” to speak to former teammates about the reality.

Hart added: “If Man City are found guilty, which I don’t think they are because of what Khaldoon said, then there’s conversations to be had.

“But right now I’m very confident and very, very calm. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved and what I did with Manchester City and what we achieved as a team. And that doesn’t change. That doesn’t change until you tell me.”

Being proud of what you did on a personal and team level as a player and Man City being guilty of breaching financial rules aren’t mutually exclusive.

Everything that happened since 2008 – the big wins, the titles – is tainted and plenty will argue null and void, but Hart and his teammates weren’t privy to the shady deals; they’re not guilty.

“I did what I did. I lined up 11 v 11 and had it out on the pitch. I won some games, lost some games, drew some games, and I shook hands and I walked off,” he said.

“I know what I did, I know what we did, and I know how it happened. It didn’t feel like we were scheming or plotting.”

Because you weren’t “scheming and plotting”, Joe, the club was.

We can only hope that when the time comes for Khaldoon to row back on the club’s squeaky clean innocence, that he and the other rule-breakers will feel the wrath of Hart and the other City players whose achievements and careers have been stained by their cheating.

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