Hart retired from football earlier this year(Image: Getty Images)

Joe Hart's furious live TV outburst and feud with Katie Price

The former England goalkeeper is getting stuck into his new role as a Match of the Day pundit

06 Oct 2024, 17:00 by John Jones · Wales Online

Former Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart may have only hung up his gloves a few months ago but he's already getting stuck into his new job as a Match of the Day pundit.

The 37-year-old is back in the studio on Sunday to give his take on the weekend's action, having been announced alongside Theo Walcott as a new addition to the iconic show's line-up.

Hart has impressed in his first few shows and has been praised for giving insight from a goalkeeper's perspective, having played at the very highest level for years. He retired with Celtic at the end of last season as they won the Scottish Premiership, while he also represented the likes of West Ham, Burnley and Torino over the course of his career.

He also won 75 caps for England and, with Manchester City, won two Premier League titles and as many FA Cups and League Cups, while also being awarded the Premier League Golden Glove on four separate occasions.

While he earned a reputation for being highly vocal on the pitch, Hart has tended to stay out of the limelight off it with little known about his private life. Here are some things you might not know about the new MOTD pundit.

Huge net worth

Hart is believed to have a staggering net worth of around £23 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

While at Manchester City, he became the highest paid goalkeeper in the world when he put pen to paper on a new contract worth a huge £120,000 a week, not including bonuses.

He was worked with brands including Nike, Umbro, Hugo Boss and Vauxhall, while he also starred in adverts for Head & Shoulders shampoo, which saw him teased by rival fans at the time.

Wife's feud with Katie Price

Hart has been married to his wife Kimberly since June 2015, when they tied the knot in Florence, Italy, after dating for six years.

Together, they have two children, a son and a daughter. While little is known about Kimberly, it was previously reported that she was a beautician.

However, she made headlines in 2015 as she became embroiled in a public feud with Katie Price, with the media personality ruffling feathers with a tweet posted on the couple's wedding day.

Hart and Price are believed to have met at a charity event in 2010 but it is unknown if they ever saw each other again after that. However, the model said in a now deleted tweet: “All Harts go out to the married couple - is he going to tell her the truth about us?”

The following year, during England's Euro 2016 campaign, she added fuel to the fire as she shared a photo of her hugging Hart's waxwork at Madame Tussauds in Blackpool, adding the caption: "Had fun today with these boys, well done England.”

At the time, a source told The Sun: “It’s hardly the perfect start to married life. Given the highs of the previous day, it’s an unwelcome distraction. Unfortunately it appears Katie realised the impact this tweet could have on the newlyweds a few hours after writing it.”

Another added: "Kim couldn't care less. She thinks Katie is a clueless bimbo."

Furious live TV outburst

Back in 2014, Hart was between the sticks for England during their group stage clash with Italy at the World Cup in Brazil.

With the Azzurri 2-1 up heading into the final moments of the match, things weren't looking good for England and Hart let his frustrations boil over, with his outburst caught on live TV.

After Andrea Pirlo narrowly avoided scoring Italy's third with a stunning free-kick effort that rattled the bar, the goalkeeper wanted to get things moving again as soon as possible and he screamed at the ball boy to "give me the f***ing ball" while kicking the advertising hoardings in anger.

A clip of the incident went viral, with many criticising Hart for his outburst. However, others defended him and suggested that his teammates needed to have shown the same level of passion during the game.

The goalkeeper later addressed the incident while appearing on Jake Humphrey's High Performance podcast and admitted that his behaviour was "100 per cent wrong". However, he said he was "desperate" to keep England in the World Cup and had been "fed up" with the slow reaction of the ball boys.

"So I've just seen one of the craziest free-kicks ever, deep in the jungle, in the Amazon rainforest against Italy, and all game the ball boys or ball girls were ball-boying and ball-girling the moment, the occasion," he said.

"I was there to try and win a game and we're 2-1 down there, I think we're in extra-time and I needed the ball. I was just fed up of having to wait for the ball to come back in because I realised there wasn't long to go and that was how I felt."

He added: "It's 100 per cent wrong. I shouldn't be shouting at anyone 'Give me the ball' like that, but I needed that ball because I wanted to get it in play and get on with trying to keep England in the World Cup.

"That was just me being desperate to keep my country in the World Cup and looking back, this happened a long time ago and it's only recently that everyone seems to scream that in my face"