Celtic man Joe Hart shares Rangers transfer verdict after Jack Butland deal
Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart said he is happy his former England team-mate Jack Butland has “found a home” at Rangers.
Butland has previously been in the same squad as Hart in Three Lions squads and will line up against the former Manchester City keeper in Old Firm derbies next season.
Having spent the second half of last season on loan as a back-up goalkeeper at Manchester United, having previously also warmed the bench at Crystal Palace, Hart is happy Butland has a new venture even if he was reluctant to talk too much about it.
“Good move for him. I’m very respectful of the two clubs we play for so I’m not really going to go into it,” he said in quotes reported by the Daily Record in their print edition on Thursday (7 July, page 52).
“But I’m happy he’s found a home. Yeah, of course (I’ve spoken to him). We are going to share the same city. I’m sure he’s going to go on and do his thing and I will try to do mine.”
Nothing wrong with a friendly rivalry
There is little point in going too deep into the intense hatred Rangers and Celtic fans have for one another, it would be a waste of time and energy when the dislike is so palpable.
But, that being said, just because Hart and Butland are now on opposing sides of one the fiercest rivalries in world football does not mean there is anything wrong with being happy for a pal.
Hart and Butland will have spent plenty of time training together at England camps, and Hart seems genuinely happy for his mate to have landed a new gig, one where he looks likely to be a number one again.
For Butland, it could hardly be a more exciting time to join Rangers given the extensive summer recruitment drive Michael Beale is on, which continued with the signing of Cyriel Dessers on Wednesday (6 July).
It will be interesting to see how he fares in Scotland, especially against Hart in the Old Firm derbies.
In other Rangers news, Scott Wright has had a £500,000 asking price put on his name this summer.