Joe Hart support for Scotland comes with a catch as Celtic icon cannot resist an unbreakable bond

Once upon a time Joe Hart would be on the plane preparing for a Euros with England.

Now the former Celtic No1 - who just called time on his career at the end of the campaign - will take on media duties as he offers his expert opinion for the summer ahead. His first thoughts with the BBC won't go down too well with the Tartan Army however, with the former England keeper not bothered at all how Scotland get on despite planning to keep close tabs on Steve Clarke's men.

His reason for watching links to his old club mates at Parkhead with the 37-year-old admitting he wants to see the likes of Callum McGregor, Greg Taylor, Anthony Ralston and James Forrest all to have a successful tournament. Scotland kick-off the summer festival of football on Friday night against hosts Germany with the eyes of the world on the Allianz Arena. Speaking to the BBC, Hart said: "England are definitely good enough to go all the way in Germany - if you look at all the squads, then along with France we are incredibly strong - but I know what goes into winning a tournament and it is not quite as simple as just having the best players, so we will have to see how it plays out.

"I will be watching Scotland closely too, of course, because of my old team-mates from Celtic who are in their team. How Scotland do doesn't bother me, but I want my pals to do well. I've got personal connections with players from lots of other teams at these Euros too, and it's the same for all of them. Ultimately they are my friends and I want what is best for them, no matter what country they are from.

"In the past I had to face my mates at tournaments and try to get the better of them, so what will be quite refreshing this time is that I won't have to put those friendships aside. I'm not on the pitch this time, so it doesn't matter what I do. Instead I can just be happy for my pals to be out there on the biggest stage, and fingers crossed they will perform."

Hart has openly spoken about his desire to crack the pundit game over coaching and give back his experience and expertise in a different way than the traditional training ground route. He's explained in more depth what he hopes to offer this summer and beyond.

He continued: "The reason I wanted to get into punditry is to educate people who are interested in goalkeeping, and hopefully I can help people understand the position a bit better. I'll be trying my best to do that by giving a goalkeeper's perspective, which can be very different to that of an outfield player. Sometimes when a goal goes in, the analysis you see on TV is about how the keeper should have done better, or has made a mistake.

"That can be the case, of course, and I am not here to protect goalkeepers from criticism, but part of the way I analysed my own performances during my career was to work out exactly why things happened. There is often a lot more to a goal than might first appear and I want to try to explore and explain that, and all the different variables that can affect the goalkeeper."