Celtic boss Martin O’Neill has fired back at Tony Bloom’s claims that Hearts players were assaulted on the pitch during the chaos at Parkhead last weekend.
O’Neill also revealed that he has been forced to change his phone number after his details were leaked following Celtic’s controversial win at Motherwell last week, a game which led to a barrage of abusive texts and calls.
Speaking on national radio, Hearts shareholder Bloom told talkSPORT earlier this week that ‘one or two players were assaulted’ amid a mass pitch invasion as Celtic scored two late goals to win the title last Saturday.
Hearts had taken aim at O’Neill in a statement on Wednesday after he had dismissed much of the fallout as ‘nonsense’ and ‘hyperbole’ whilst also speaking to the same radio station on Monday.
The Tynecastle club claimed that O’Neill’s words had been ‘highly irresponsible’ — but the veteran boss turned the tables on Bloom yesterday.
With Police Scotland still assessing all the relevant evidence to establish whether any assaults took place, O’Neill believes Bloom was out of order.
Martin O’Neill has apologised for his own use of the word in ‘nonsense’ in a radio interview
‘First of all, I think I heard Tony Bloom saying that there were two players assaulted,’ said O’Neill, who will lead Celtic into tomorrow’s Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline.
‘It’s not true — if it is, it hasn’t been proven yet. I’ve watched the pictures back, and I think one of their players actually snaps a phone away from a lad and stamps on it.
‘But that’s besides the point, I can understand that. What was remarkable about it was, pitch invasion or not, do you know how long it took to clear the pitch invasion? Two minutes and 50 seconds.
‘For someone to say, without proof at this moment, that the players had been assaulted, I think that’s irresponsible.’
O’Neill apologised for using the word ‘nonsense’ when he spoke to Jim White on talkSPORT on Monday, insisting that he had used it slightly out of context amid a heated exchange.
He also defended supporters coming on to the pitch once again — and insisted that something would be lost from the game if pitch invasions were to be banned.
Questioning why talkSPORT presenter Jim White didn’t push Bloom as hard as he did during his own interview on Monday, O’Neill continued: ‘The assault — if proven — is not right. But it’s not been proven.
‘It’s interesting Jim (White) didn’t pursue this. When someone of that ilk — a senior figure at the football club — says players have been assaulted, the normal question would be to push on that.
‘It’s grown arms and legs, but it hasn’t really surprised me. I’m not contracted to talkSPORT, but I’ve done some things with them.
‘I do apologise for the word in that context but Jim was just irritating me. I realised the consequences immediately and I knew it would cause a bit of a stir, and that he wouldn’t let it go.
Hearts investor Bloom irked O’Neill with accusations that he believe have not been proven
‘Unfortunately, he let it go when he was speaking to Tony Bloom, which I shall remind him of.
‘Listen, if it is proved that those players had been assaulted, that’s not on. That’s an offence at the end of the day.
‘I think if it’s the case, and it is proved that they’ve been hit, it would be more than an apology from us. If that’s the case, it’s not on. It’s not on at all.
‘Maybe the sentence where I used the word nonsense, that should probably have been in relation to when Jim asked me if winning the league had been tainted.
‘Me using the word nonsense maybe didn’t quite correspond to that sentence. For me personally, I don’t think anything is tainted.
‘In the heat of the moment, I shouldn’t have said it. I definitely do apologise for that.
‘It has grown arms and legs since then, which I thought it would do. The minute Hearts complained about it, I knew it would grow.
‘I might need to eat a load of humble pie here if it’s proved that any assaults took place, but so far that’s not been the case.
‘But I do think if there’s going to be a universal ban on people coming on to the pitch that something would be lost from the game.
‘I am saying that when the result has gone for me. I desperately hope I would say the same thing if the result went against me.
‘What has happened is that people have taken out the emotion of the game. I didn’t know what Hearts’ argument was at the end of the day.
Bloom claimed two Hearts players had been ‘assaulted’ but the case is still being investigated
‘Because the pitch invasion had taken place? Had the game finished or not? Were we going to go back and play the last 15 seconds if that was the case?
‘I also didn’t know it was the rules that the referee, Don Robertson, doesn’t have to blow a whistle to finish the game.
‘There have been pitch invasions here in this country. There was one at Kilmarnock. There was an invasion of the pitch when they got promotion. Derek [McInnes] was on the pitch at the time.
‘If pitch invasions are going to be universally blocked, fine. And if it’s a criminal offence to go on to the pitch, that’s something else. I’m not sure in the euphoria.
‘I don’t know this for certain, but at the end of the day, had the situation been reversed, and it had happened at Hearts, I think that there wouldn’t have been the clamour that there has been here.’
O’Neill revealed that his personal details were leaked on the back of Celtic’s controversial late victory at Motherwell last week.
They were awarded a highly contentious penalty deep into stoppage-time, with referee John Beaton being placed under supervision in the aftermath after his details were also leaked online.
‘I haven’t contacted the police yet but I may do,’ said O’Neill. ‘There were only about 250 calls.
‘I’ve changed my telephone number because it was circulated around. You want to hear some of the comments on those.
‘That was from Wednesday night. I had to change it. It’s not a problem but I’ve had it for 35 years and it was kind of part of me at the end of the day.
‘It got circulated somewhere, but they are on tape. It was messages, texts, everything.
‘I decided on Friday I needed to change it to concentrate on the game on Saturday. I might put it back again just to listen to the messages.’
O’Neill is now 74 years old. There is a growing clamour among Celtic supporters for him to remain in charge beyond the summer.
That will only intensify if he can lead them to a domestic double by beating Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline at Hampden tomorrow.
O’Neill insists that the job of leading Celtic is worth all the hassle he has had to deal with
O’Neill confirmed that he expects to hold talks with Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s major shareholder, and insists that none of the acrimony of the past week has put him off.
Asked if he needs the hassle at this stage of his life, he replied: ‘I’ve experienced some real highs at this football club, but I’ve also experienced some real lows as well.
‘There were seasons where we lost the league on the very last day. I know what that feels like. I like Terry Butcher a lot. When he was in charge of Motherwell, he celebrated that as if he had won the World Cup.
‘Sometimes you have to go through that experience and come back stronger from it. I am sure Hearts will come back stronger next season.
‘In terms of do I really need this at this stage of my life with the phone calls and changing my number and whatever else, I do think about it. But it’s worth it.
‘Yeah, I would expect him [Desmond] to talk to me. I wouldn’t expect him to say “look, there’s a five-year deal”. If he does… that takes me up to 93!
‘I think that our football club, we have to really look at it and see that the challenges are coming which is great.
‘I genuinely think it’s great that Hearts are coming with a charge, Rangers will get stronger at the end of the day. It’s a call for us to have a look at the situation.’
