I just read Hearts’ incredible statement on the reports of crushing at Tynecastle last night.
I am slack jawed with amazement at how crass and cheap it is.
This is the kind of statement that you expect from Ibrox, to be frank, full of low, cheap point scoring.
The sentiment of “you brought it on yourselves” is clear from the words; that is a disgraceful response.
Crowd safety is the responsibility of the home club. For Hearts to attempt to palm this off as something that was caused by Celtic fans, and thus something for which they, themselves, bear no responsibility is plainly wrong in every way.
Their snipe about how Celtic fans without tickets wasted the time of stewards is the kind of dig that Sevco’s press room excels at but which I thought was beneath every other club in the league. It seems as if I was wrong. Perhaps they are pooling resources.
Stewards have to deal with these kinds of issues at every game, although perhaps not so much at Tynecastle as they might once have been used to. I mean, it’s hard enough getting people who do have tickets to attend games there at the moment.
The idea that people would turn up without them and try to get in must seem a wee bit alien to them right now.
Yeah, that was a cheap shot … but I’m not here to make excuses for why supporter safety was badly compromised last night. Those who have such responsibilities should be taking them more seriously, instead of trying to palm the blame off elsewhere.
Celtic’s SLO has been in discussions with fans online all day over this, and the club is said to be looking into the matter.
I cannot imagine that they will be the slightest bit impressed by Hearts’ official response.
For them to treat a matter of the utmost gravity in such a cavalier and finger-pointing way is contemptible.
Celtic must not take this lying down.
Remember, you can still do our Slapping Sevco quiz at the link below … just answer the first question about who scored our first goal against the NewCo …