Martin O’Neill rejects ‘nonsense’ criticism of Celtic pitch invasion

Defiant Martin O’Neill has denied claims that the scenes when Celtic sealed the William Hill Premiership title on Saturday shamed Scottish football as he refused to condemn supporters who invaded the pitch.

Hundreds of Celtic fans streamed onto the playing surface when Callum Osmand netted in the eighth minute of stoppage time to put the Hoops 3-1 ahead and effectively seal the championship.

Several ran towards the crestfallen Hearts players, and the Jambos squad and staff members were swiftly escorted out of Celtic Park and back to Edinburgh amid safety concerns.

Hearts later released a statement noting “deeply disturbing reports of serious physical and verbal abuse towards our players and staff, both on the pitch and elsewhere”.

When it was put to him in an interview on talkSport on Monday that the Tynecastle club had stated that the situation had “embarrassed Scottish football”, Celtic boss O’Neill said: “As they might do. Well, I don’t believe that, I just don’t believe it, I think it’s nonsense.”

When host Jim White suggested that it had tainted the image of Scottish football, O’Neill replied: “I’m sorry, I totally disagree with that. I don’t know about the confrontations in terms of the Hearts players, and there’s a lot of hyperbole about that, let’s find out the real picture.

“The fact is that when we scored the third goal, the game was essentially over, there were about eight seconds left, or whatever the case may be. The referee has claimed that he had blown the final whistle at the end. And then there’s obvious excitement, we have scored to win the league.”

White then suggested supporters should not have come on to the pitch, to which O’Neill said: “Well, start telling that to every single football club.

“I assumed that the final whistle had gone at exactly the same moment that we put the ball in the net for the third goal. It’s a home game and we’d just won the league, and the fans have come on to the field, all right? Okay, so they should stay put then?”

O’Neill’s comments appear at odds with a statement released on Sunday night by Celtic saying that “the club regrets that our victory over Hearts was followed by a number of individuals entering the field of play”.

The statement continued: “We again emphasise that there is no justification for this behaviour which, for the vast majority of Celtic supporters, only detracts from the joy of such occasions.

“We also apologise to Hearts for the situation encountered by their players and staff at the conclusion of the game, and for the fact that these events prevented them from saluting their own supporters at the end of an enthralling campaign, to which they have contributed so much.”

Police Scotland are investigating the post-match scenes in conjunction with the two clubs while the Scottish Professional Football League said that “supporters entering the field of play in any circumstances is wholly unacceptable”.