Hart gone

Our goalkeeper swap with the city of Birmingham is complete, Joe Hart's loan move to Birmingham City has been confirmed.

Hart made his frustration at a lack of first team football clear:

He said: "It has been tough. It's frustrating, but there's only one person can play in goal and Shay's doing that at the moment. I've had to deal with it the best I can. It's not been ideal, but it's not the end of the world."

There is a part of every City fan that would love to see us conquer the world with our own young players; Hart in goal, Richards and Onuoha in defence, Ireland and Johnson running the midfield, Sturridge up front etc etc.

But it's just a dream. Mark Hughes has to improve the team as quickly as possible with his available resources, and no City fan would seriously argue against the claim that buying Shay Given in January was one of Hughes' best acts as manager. The problem for Hart is that Shay Given is only 33, and has a contract until 2013. I can't see circumstances other than a career ending injury for Given in which Hart becomes our first choice again within the next four years.

So I fear this may be goodbye. If Hart does well at Birmingham, and they stay up, I imagine he will be rewarded with a permanent move. Should they go down, he may well try again for a new club next year. No City fan would claim that the Abu Dhabi takeover has been anything other than miraculous for us. But like any revolution, it has its losers as well as its winners.