Martin O’Neill has fired back at Tony Bloom’s accusation of assaults on Hearts players from Celtic fans.
Bloom made the claim in an interview this week, having been in attendance at Celtic Park to see his club fall at the last hurdle in the Scottish Premiership title race.
Rather than O’Neill’s triumph, the media have instead focused on the pitch invasion after the game, though much of this discourse has been massively overblown.
As of yet, the accusations of assault haven’t been proven, as the interim Celtic boss has made clear.
Celtic’s official statement on the pitch invasion was far more measured than Hearts.
No hysteria, just balance. Thoughts on this 👇
Martin O’Neill: Tony Bloom Celtic accusation ‘not true’
O’Neill told the media in response to Bloom’s claims: “I think I heard Tony Bloom saying that there were two players assaulted.
“It’s not true – if it is, it hasn’t been proven yet.
READ MORE: Peter Grant’s brutal Hearts message proves Celtic critics got it badly wrong
“I’ve watched the picture back, and I think one of their players actually snaps a phone away from a lad and stamps on it.
“What was remarkable about it was, pitch invasion or not, do you know how long 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.
“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.”
He continued: I’ve seen pitch invasions in the past,” O’Neill added. “I don’t know whether you saw Leverkusen winning the league, and the game is at 89 minutes. The referee decided to stop 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, now Hearts head coach] was on the pitch at the time.
“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.
“You have to take into consideration that outside the Celtic diaspora, and part of Edinburgh, everybody wanted Hearts to win.”
I want the next manager of Celtic to be…
Martin O’Neill on his Celtic future and Dermot Desmond
On his future, O’Neill said: “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…
“It’s whether you’d be up for the challenge again, really. But I think that our football club, we have to really look at it and see that the challenges are coming.
“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. But again, that takes a bit of time.
“I’ve not had any word and I don’t expect to have a word with anyone this week anyway. But whatever you do, you don’t get much time when the season starts.
“I think the team are back on June 26. We will have a plethora of players coming back, not the boys at the World Cup, but boys that have been out on loan that I’ve never seen.
“So that takes a bit of doing, and whether you’d have the real energy to do that, I genuinely don’t know, honestly.”
On Dermot Desmond, he concluded: “I would expect him 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!”
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