Lawrence Shankland has finally spoken about the disappointment of losing out on the Premiership title to Celtic.
What stood out was not what the former Hearts captain said. It was what he did not say.
The aftermath of Celtic’s title-clinching victory over Hearts at Parkhead was dominated by discussion surrounding the alleged incident involving Shankland during the post-match scenes.
Yet when reflecting on the end of the campaign this week, the now-Rangers striker’s focus remained firmly on football.
Celtic’s official statement on the pitch invasion was far more measured than Hearts.
No hysteria, just balance. Thoughts on this 👇
Shankland chose to discuss football matters
Speaking while away with Scotland, Shankland spoke openly about the disappointment of missing out on the title.
He told The Scottish Sun, “In all honesty, I’ve not had too much time to over-think everything.
“When you have the buzz of a World Cup to look forward to, as bad as it sounds, you can move quickly. In football, you have to move quickly.
“The game moves on and you have to move with it. Of course, there was disappointment but after a few days of being quiet in the house I just had to deal with it and park it.
“Then I was looking forward to meeting up here. There’s been a lot of ups and downs in the last couple of weeks. It’s been a bit mad. But as footballers, we deal with disappointments and move quickly.
“You deal with good times, you move quickly because they don’t always last. I’ll always remain level-headed.
“I’m excited for the tournament to start and I’m in a good place. Form-wise, I feel good and I’m looking forward to these games starting.”
There was discussion of disappointment. There was discussion of Scotland. There was discussion of mentality and moving forward.
There was no reference to the alleged incident at Celtic Park that generated so much attention after the final day.
The wider Celtic Park controversy has largely fizzled out
Much of the conversation after Celtic’s title-clinching win centred on events away from the football itself.
Claims and counterclaims dominated discussion in the days that followed. Allegations emerged regarding Hearts players, including Shankland, being assaulted during the post-match scenes, but subsequent developments failed to support many of the initial claims.
While social media was awash with suggestions that the match was abandoned, the SFA threw that out after they released the Celtic Park VAR audio.
Since then, very little has emerged to support some of the more dramatic claims made in the immediate aftermath of the fixture.
Much of the noise that followed Celtic’s title win centred on events after the final whistle rather than the match itself.
Yet Shankland chose not to revisit any of it.
Instead, his focus was on disappointment, recovery and preparing for Scotland’s World Cup campaign.
Given the attention generated by the controversy at the time, that omission was perhaps the most notable part of everything he said.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
