'I'm enjoying every minute'

Hart, pictured with former England, Wolves and Blackburn keeper Tim Flowers, now the goalkeeping coach at Manchester City, adds: "Moving away from Shrewsbury for the first time and joining a new club has ensured the last few weeks have been something of a whirlwind.

It's been busy recently as well because I have finally moved out of my hotel room and into a new house I have purchased in Bowden, Altrincham.

But the players, staff and management of Manchester City could not have done any more to help me settle into life in the top flight.

Having Tim Flowers as a goalkeeping coach is like a dream and if I can't learn off him, I can't learn off anybody.

It's a pleasure going to work every day and I'm learning all the time how life at a Premiership club works.

The training ground alone is spectacular. In my later days at Shrewsbury, there were big improvements to the Sundorne Castle training ground and it is now a place everybody at Gay Meadow should be proud of.

But it was something of an eye-opener to see the training facilities on offer at City.

When I was up in Manchester to sign for the club, all the pitches were being re-seeded so I didn't see it in all its glory.

On the first day of pre-season training, however, I couldn't help but be impressed.

Each of the seven training pitches are kept in immaculate condition and every last detail - down to the changing rooms, gym and canteen - are top class.

The departure of David James and the injury problems of our Swedish international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson has seen me on the bench as understudy to Nicky Weaver for every game so far.

That has been fantastic and I've had no frustration at all at not breaking into the first team at this stage. Everyone wants to be playing all the time but I'm only 19 and hopefully have a long future ahead of me.

I have played in reserve matches against Manchester United, Newcastle and Wigan, although they have included no major names in their side.

Going to the Premiership grounds has been a wonderful experience, although I know if I'm ever called upon I would just treat it as a normal game.

A trip to Chelsea on the opening day was something of a baptism of fire - and I'm sure you'll be a bit surprised about the away ground which has impressed me most so far.

Reading may not be one of the glamour sides of the Premiership but the atmosphere at the Madjeski Stadium was amazing and enjoyable to be involved in, even if we did lose 1-0.

Their supporters go absolutely crazy if they get a throw-in and are clearly set on enjoying life in the top division.

We were all hoping for a good start and we didn't really follow up that superb 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Sportcity as we would have liked.

But some of the criticism that we have been receiving in the national press has been very harsh.

There have been plenty of teams on the same points or even less than us and yet we are the ones who seem to have been pin-pointed as being in some sort of crisis.

But that's only served to bring the team closer together. We may not be able to compete with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea financially but spirit wise I can't imagine any side in the league will have more character and camaraderie. It's also been interesting to note Stuart Pearce in the last few weeks.

Reports say he's been under plenty of pressure but his behaviour has not changed one iota. He's continued to get behind the team and encourage us and that's great for the players.

He's a top man and a top manager and I have been delighted for him to see the last couple of results, a victory over West Ham and a good away point at Everton which we will now be looking to build on.

Hopefully the same could be said for my old club Shrewsbury. I have seen them a few times already this season and been impressed.

Their ability to come back from behind is really encouraging and hopefully they can do something special in their last year at Gay Meadow.

It's been great to watch all the lads doing well. I wouldn't say I'm a lifelong Shrewsbury fan but there are a lot of people at the club who mean a lot to me and I would love to see them have a successful season."

As told to StarSport's JAMES GARRISON

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