Hart admits Birmingham debt

City shot-stopper owes a lot to former club

Last updated: 5th September 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hart admits Birmingham debt

Hart: Blues debt

SKY SPORTS ON SKY
There's more live football on Sky Sports than ever before, including the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, England away Euro 2012 qualifiers and La Liga. With four live Sky Sports channels, as well as Sky Sports News, you'll never miss a moment on Sky. Click here for more.

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Goalkeeper Joe Hart has revealed he will forever be indebted to Birmingham City after making his competitive England debut.

The 23-year-old shot-stopper spent last season on loan with the Blues and since his return to Manchester City, has earned the No.1 spot at Eastlands ahead of Shay Given.

Having also established himself as Fabio Capello's first-choice between the sticks, Hart is reaping the benefits from his campaign at St Andrews, where he put in a number of outstanding performances.

He admits he owes a lot to the club, and especially manager Alex McLeish and goalkeeping coach Dave Watson.

Hart said: "I can't stress enough how important that year was at Birmingham.

"If I'd been sitting on my backside last year and not playing, that would have done nothing for anyone.

"City wouldn't have got anything from that and I personally would not have got anything.

Grateful

"I was very grateful to Alex McLeish (Birmingham manager) for giving me that opportunity.

"Just playing has really helped me grow as a keeper, not necessarily being better at doing certain things, but just being a keeper, someone's keeper and being part of a team."

England rival Ben Foster has now joined Birmingham and Hart believes he will also benefit from working with coach Watson.

"I can't speak any more highly of Dave Watson. I worked closely with him," he added.

"Every day means the world to him football-wise and he is going to do the same with Ben.

"He will really push him. Ben is a great keeper and it will be great for him to be a number one and you have seen in his early performances that he is going to do well."

European Championships. Click here to bet.