Joe Hart's enduring love of Celtic is no secret, and it's something he's expressed on many occasions since hanging up his gloves at the end of last season.
In a new interview with Australia's Optus Sports, the former keeper has outlined his first meeting with former manager Ange Postecoglou.
After falling out of favour at Tottenham Hotspur in 2021, Hart said he had considered retiring at that moment, however was offered a conversation with the Australian coach who'd just taken over at Parkhead.
"I was offered an opportunity to speak to Ange Postecoglou, who, respectfully, I didn't know who Ange was," Hart said. "I didn't know what he'd been up to in the world of football, but I was like, 'can we have a conversation, feel each other out?' And from the moment I spoke to him, I just loved everything about him.
"I loved his calmness, loved his understanding, what he wanted to do, what he believed in, the research he'd done on me, the conversations that we had.
"We spoke as two fathers, if anything, rather than anything to do with football. I said, look, I've got a young family, I really want my son to see me play and I want to represent. I feel like a father figure in a dressing room."
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Hart said he considers Postecoglou to the best manager he ever worked under over the course of his own illustrious career, and said he loved the Australian's approach to football on and off the pitch.
He added: "[I said to him] If you need that, if you need someone who's still got quality and still has desire but also wants to help, I'm offering myself to you. If you don't, I totally respect that, I'm not the guy for you.
"He said that's something that he needed, he'd done all the research that he needed to do and he'd seen enough of me as a goalkeeper that he didn't even need to do any research.
"He is very, very honest. He made it very clear he's not the kind of guy who wants to have a close relationship with his players, and I totally respect that and he was very consistent with that.
"But I feel like we had a unique bond in terms of we could both help each other out and I'm forever grateful for that and spent some special years playing some crazy football. Having had that relationship."
