As has rarely been seen in the Scottish media in recent weeks, Paul Cooney and Peter Grant had a sensible conversation about Celtic vs Hearts.
Celtic were sanctioned for the pitch invasion, though claims of assault purported by Tynecastle shareholder Tony Bloom remain completely unproven.
It all came in the midst of an “Anyone but Celtic” mentality fuelled by many observers rooting for Hearts to deliver an unlikely title.
As has been identified by Grant and Cooney, this resulted in Celtic being hysterically demonised.
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Paul Cooney nails it: ‘People lost their minds about Celtic vs Hearts’
Grant said of the invasion on the Go Radio Football Show: “We’ve seen all the other clubs as well, when you score a goal.
“We’re glad there’s no wire fences or that up nowadays, where [there are] crushes and all that sort of situation.
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“But sometimes, they’re that close, and there’s people pushing from the back, guys have got to go out on the front. That can sometimes happen.
“And you see that with all the teams. It doesn’t matter. Let’s not shy away from it. Yes, you want them all to stay off the pitch, for sure.
“But I think even the build-up to the Celtic-Hearts game, all the things that went on in midweek, and everybody saying certain things about Celtic…
“I think the fans were feeling it. I think it was just an emotion more than anything else. It wasn’t going to cause trouble.
“And we’ve found that out. They kept saying that ‘this happened with players’ and ‘that happened with players’… But I was at the game and seen everything.
“I’m not saying I’ve seen everybody on the pitch, but I never seen one person getting struck or anything.”
Host Paul Cooney then said: “Let’s not get sanctimonious: People lost their mind over this. ‘Anyone but Celtic to win’. They did. They lost it.
“I get it, because of the Hearts story. Down south, breakfast telly… *English accent* ‘Oh, let’s look at Scotland!’
“Hearts could win it for the first time in 60-odd years… I get the story.”
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A tough few weeks for Hearts
Having led the race for 250 days, it’s fair to say that the defeat hit the Jambos hard. After the pitch invasion, they left the stadium still in their jerseys, without fulfilling their media duties.
Hearts then slated the referee’s decision to tend the game amid the invasion, only for this to backfire when VAR audio revealed that Derek McInnes had communicated a willingness to stop the game.
Bloom has also claimed that Hearts players were assaulted by Celtic fans, but these accusations remain unproven.
To make matters even worse, their captain Lawrence Shankland is now leaving them for Rangers.
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