The Celtic board didn’t leave Celtic Park without criticism of their stewardship being aired loud and clear during the 2-0 Scottish Premiership defeat to Hearts.
Lawrence Shankland and Stephen Kingsley were both on the scoresheet in the first half to power the away side to what was, sadly, a pretty comfortable win.
It’s their first victory at Celtic Park since 2009 and Celtic’s first home league defeat entirely since the dark days of the behind-closed-doors 2020/21 season.
Chris Sutton had sharp criticism for Brendan Rodgers after the game while the manager himself was not a happy man in his radio interview.
Boos were heard clearly at half-time and full-time. During the game itself, there was a Main Stand confrontation as some supporters shouted criticism towards the Celtic board.
Celtic hierarchy criticised during Bhoys defeat to Hearts
This could be seen by many at the game but if you didn’t quite witness what was happening or didn’t attend, there’s a post-match account from BBC Sportsound pundit Michael Stewart that sheds more light.
The press section is embedded within that stand, so there was a pretty good view of how events unfolded.
Stewart said: “Further down towards the tunnel, even after the first goal before the second, somebody turned round and was having words with the board.
“In that area, there were a lot more later on, some stewards wanted to come and try to calm things down. That just seemed to agitate it a little bit more because the punters felt they should be allowed to voice their opinions.
“Right in front of us [in the press box], it got pretty heated. There were a few folks who came close to getting involved in an altercation. Other people were pulling them back to try and calm it down.
“The big thing here is that it felt, on the back of that, there was a real divide between the punters and the upper class – the board and the guests. The perception from me looking from the outside is that the board have got money, they’ve not spent it well enough and they need to do the job better.”
Celtic have significant resources but the perception is that, this summer from a position of strength, they’ve been misused.
Hardly any of the transfer window signings are getting a game a fair few aren’t even making match squads.
Meanwhile, the club are sitting on a massive bank balance and celebrating huge turnover and profits.
It’s not a great look. However, there’s plenty of blame to go around right now with Rodgers not getting a tune out of these players and the squad itself performing well below what we know they are capable of.
The division this season has not been pleasing to see. Leaders at Celtic need to take steps to forge more unity moving forward both within the club and with fans. That’s why they’re in the position they are in.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers reacts to dreadful Saturday for Celtic as Hearts beat Bhoys, apologises to fans.
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