Hearts have condemned the “shameful scenes” at Celtic Park which “embarrassed Scottish football” as their William Hill Premiership dream ended in acrimonious fashion.
Immediately after Callum Osmand made it 3-1 deep into stoppage time of the title decider, fans ran on to the playing surface to celebrate – even though the full-time whistle had not been heard.
Several confronted the crestfallen Hearts players, who were ushered down the tunnel by club officials concerned for their safety, and the match – approaching the end of the indicated eight minutes of added time – did not restart.
With Celtic’s players and supporters still inside the ground waiting to lift the trophy, the Hearts team bus left Parkhead with players still in their match kits within 20 minutes of the full-time whistle and did not carry out their post-match media duties.
The club promptly returned to Edinburgh, where they were met by many proud Hearts fans, and later released a strongly worded statement on the afternoon’s events.
“Heart of Midlothian utterly condemns the shameful scenes at Celtic Park this afternoon which have, once again, embarrassed Scottish football,” the statement read.
“Reports of serious physical and verbal abuse towards our players and staff, both on the pitch and elsewhere, are deeply disturbing. We are investigating this fully and are in dialogue with Police Scotland.
“We will make no further comment at this time other than to say that it is completely unacceptable that our players and staff were put in that situation.
“Given the menacing and threatening atmosphere inside the stadium, our entire staff had no alternative but to leave immediately, without undertaking post-match media duties. To our media partners, we apologise, but the safety of our staff was our prime focus during these unacceptable scenes.
“The pitch invasion caused a chaotic end and nobody seemed to know whether or not the match had been brought to a finish.
“Our players were then denied the opportunity to thank our magnificent fans – sensational to a person – for their backing this afternoon and all season long.
“We expect the strongest action possible to be taken by the footballing authorities in the interests of protecting the safety of players and supporters, and the integrity of our game.
“This season has seen Hearts capture the imagination of football fans, not only in Scotland, but the world over.
“We pay tribute to Derek McInnes, his staff, the first team and the supporters, who have done the club proud this season. None of them deserved the disgraceful scenes that unfolded.”
Earlier, Celtic boss Martin O’Neill had said: “If some Hearts players have been accosted, then that’s just not right at all.
“I genuinely didn’t see the scenes at the end because I thought the game wasn’t over, so I’m trying to push some of our fans off the pitch again to play whatever’s left.
“Obviously, at 3-1, I think that the fourth official had said to me, there was like a minute to go when we scored the goal, so with the best will in the world, they’re not going to get two goals in that time.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of commotion in the tunnel, so I don’t know, but getting back to the point, if Hearts players have been accosted by some of our fans, that’s pretty serious. Honestly, I’m not pushing it to the side, it’ll be something that the officials or people will have to look at.”
