Ange Postecoglou predicts Celtic long haul for Joe Hart as he's 'still young for a keeper'

Ange Postecoglou insists Joe Hart will be Celtic’s main man for years to come after hailing the short stopper’s huge role in edging the Hoops to the title.

The Parkhead boss has heralded the former Man City keeper as a massive presence in his dressing room this term.

But Postecoglou pointed to the 35-year-old’s ability between the sticks at the weekend after Hart made a couple of crucial saves against Rangers to safeguard the point that fired Celts to the verge of claiming the Premiership crown.

The Hoops gaffer said: “Joe’s still young for a goalkeeper. I just felt he’s still got a bit to prove. He’s said himself, he needed a bit of love, and I knew he’d get it at this football club. I knew the supporters would embrace him and he loved it here with the group we were putting together.

“There’s no reason he can’t keep it going for a lot longer.”

Postecoglou reckons Hart has had a huge role off the pitch at Parkhead – but Sunday was a reminder of what the no.1 can do on it.

He said: “Is he a leader? Absolutely. That was one of the reasons we brought him in. We identified pretty early we’d lost some experience in the group and we wanted to bring some experience in to the team.

Get all the latest Celtic news sent straight to your Inbox every day by signing up to our newsletter.

We cover every morsel of information regarding your favourite club in the form of articles, videos and podcasts.

The newsletter will arrive every day at 12pm, giving you a round up of the best stories we've covered that in the last 24 hours.

To sign up, simply enter your email address into the link here.

And if you aren't already, make sure you join the conversation over on our Celtic Facebook group and Record Sport Instagram.

“I thought Joe was