Hart in the right place

Manchester: The Mario Balotelli firework display was almost an anticlimax. At every stage of Manchester City's rapid elevation into a force capable of mixing it with the European elite and challenging for the Premier League title, there has been attendant melodrama.

Accompanying the paparazzi snaps of training ground scraps were persistent rumours of dressing room discord. Just when things had supposedly settled, the chief executive is forced to resign and the former captain caps his efforts to force a move by refusing to, ahem, "resume warming up". And then, of course, you mix in Kolo Toure's failed drugs test and Edin Dzeko's petulance in Munich. Lots of fun.

This perception of City as having a deep-rooted self-destructive streak plays well to Mancunian pessimism, but those that had complacently assumed it would not shift were jolted out of it by last month's Manchester derby. City may have paid a price for the speed with which they have done things — let the wrong ones in, so to speak — but the destruction of Manchester United showed that this is a team that will not be diverted from its upward path.

Joe Hart is unequivocal on this — City are here to stay. "We're not a sideshow," he said. "We don't need to go out in front of people shaking hands, proving we love each other. We don't really care what anyone thinks of us on the outside. We just have to deal with it.

"There's plenty of competition and plenty of love in the dressing for us to get through.

"There are always 15 cameras at the training ground waiting for the next tear-up but you're going to have the odd scrap in football. I'd be disappointed if we didn't with people fighting for places.

"Everything that's ever happened has been heat of the moment and has been resolved half an hour later behind closed doors."

Hart, like his teammates, is not allowed to talk about the Carlos Tevez case specifically, on the instruction of club lawyers. Yet there is palpable frustration at their Carrington training base that the 6-1 win has been clouded by the Argentine's continued dispute with the club.

The memory of Old Trafford is still fresh for Hart. "I didn't get nervous before the game. I don't really, I'm quite confident of what I can do. I look forward to stuff like that. It's a great occasion, lots of hype. I read the papers like a football fan, getting excited about the game. I just happen to be lucky enough to be playing in it.

"It was a bit surreal being at the other end. For the first 20 minutes United were quite dominant but didn't hurt us. Then Micah [Richards] and Gael [Clichy] got to grips with their wingers — they are vital for Man Utd. Eventually we nailed them down and it changed the game.

Crucial sending off

"Obviously the sending off made a difference but we were already 1-0 up by then and not feeling threatened. We knew we could win the game — we never thought we would put six in.

"It was a case of the same old at half-time. There was a lot of talk about the Charity Shield, when we were 2-0 up at the break. We knew what they were capable of and had lots of respect for them. It is United so you have to be prepared to play to the 98th minute against them. You've got to. We were telling each other not to back off, to go for it. And we did."

After the game Hart was picked up on camera saying he had been receiving death threats from United fans. Was it particularly bad? "No different to the usual abuse you get," he said with a shrug. "People were getting bored down that end. It's water off a duck's back really.

"I'd say 80 per cent of the time they don't really mean it. It's just sometimes people get carried away. It's no different to anything I've heard before and as long as we're winning I'll take that abuse all day."

Dressing room buzzing

When the whistle went the magnitude of the result sunk in. "In the dressing room afterwards everyone was buzzing. There was lots of noise from everyone, including the staff. I think even James Milner managed a smile. You know you've done well if Milner's smiling," he said.

Hart enjoyed the fall-out of the result around Manchester. He has come to open the clubhouse of AFC Urmston in south Manchester and the vice-chairman, a ‘Blue', has already thanked him for making his week.

The building has been funded by the Football Foundation and will service the club's 50 teams. This is grassroots football done properly. Hart is being asked to sign every available bit of kit — a gaggle of nine-year-old girls even get him to sign their boots. "They weren't taking no for an answer," he said. "I clocked that pretty early so I just gave in."

While his celebrity increases off the field, his role is also changing on it. This time last year, he was City's decisive player in games, his saves winning matches. Now, though, he is peering up the other end of the field to see what's going on for most of the game.

"I'm doing a lot of standing around " he said. "I just have to come in when required and the rest of the time let the boys go and win the game for us."

Factfile

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2011