Anger and injustice? Craig Gordon and his club need to get over this.

Unbelievable, isn’t it? Even after all the lies about that day have been revealed as such, even after the SFA has explained why the penalty at Fir Park was one, we have Craig Gordon’s comments about “anger” and “injustice” following Hearts’ failure to win the title.

It is an understatement to say these remarks have gone down badly with Celtic supporters.

They deserved to.

Because if there is one word that should have been retired from the Hearts vocabulary weeks ago, it is “injustice.” There was no injustice. There was no grand theft. There was no historic robbery. There was a football team that came to Celtic Park needing one point, held the title in its hands with minutes left, then fell apart when it mattered most.

They are having trouble dealing with it. Understandable. But this moaning is tiresome. It feeds a sense of grievance which is dangerous and stupid in equal measure.

Gordon speaks about the anger; anger at what? Against who? When you are that vague you allow people to fill in the blanks. It is reckless beyond belief. What exactly are they angry about? Where is the injustice?

Motherwell? Done to death. Explained by the beaks at Hampden. Settled by the footage that clearly shows the handball.

That is where this whole theatre started, of course. Celtic went to Fir Park needing to win. Hearts were playing Falkirk and were sitting one point clear. Celtic got the late penalty after VAR intervened over Sam Nicholson’s handball, and Kelechi Iheanacho scored to make it 3-2. The decision sparked predictable hysteria, with Derek McInnes calling it “disgusting” and others rushing to build the great Hearts grievance industry around it.

But Hearts still came to Celtic Park needing only a draw.

One point. That was it. They did not need favours from Motherwell. They did not need Sam Nicholson’s hand to disappear from the laws of physics.

They did not need a judicial review, an SFA apology or a government inquiry. They needed to come to Celtic Park and avoid defeat.

They were 1-0 up.

They were still champions with four minutes to go.

Let that sink in.

With four minutes left, the title was theirs. Not hypothetically. Not emotionally. Not in some Hearts-supporter fever dream where every referee in Scotland gets dragged before a tribunal. In the actual live table, with the actual match clock running, they were on course to win the league.

Then Celtic scored. Then Celtic added a third.

That is not injustice. That is Hearts losing their nerve.

What makes the complaint even more ridiculous is that the initial decision not to award Celtic’s second goal would have cost us the title, despite being wrong. That is the bit these people glide past because it does not fit the story.

If we are going to talk about injustice, let’s talk about the moment where Celtic were almost denied the goal that kept the title alive.

But no. That part is apparently just football.

The injustice appears to be that Hearts could not hold on for the few remaining minutes they needed. The injustice seems to be that Celtic kept playing until the end. The injustice is apparently to be found in a team which had been top and had the title within reach could not finish the job. Sorry, but no.

A title is not won because you led the table for a long time. It is not won because you had a nice story. It is not won because the media wanted a fairy tale. It is won when the season ends and you are top. Celtic are champions. With seven wins from the final seven games we deserve to be. That is the only verdict that matters.

Since then, Hearts have spent far too much time implying, suggesting and outright pretending that the circumstances of the final day were something other than what they were.

We have had the missing-minute nonsense. We have had the pitch-invasion noise. We have had claims about players being assaulted which, as far as the public record has shown, have not been backed by the kind of evidence such claims require.

We have had this whole melodrama dressed up as a quest for truth when it is really just an inability to accept defeat.

Craig Gordon should know better.

He played for Celtic for a long time. He knows what pressure looks like here. He knows what it means to get over the line. He knows what it means to win when the room is against you and every hack in the country is waiting for you to fall.

But Gordon also left Celtic under a cloud, or at least with enough lingering awkwardness that I have never been convinced he completely got over it. That is not me inventing a vendetta. It is me looking at some of the things he has said and done since and wondering whether there is a wee bit of scar tissue there.

Remember the Odsonne Edouard penalty?

The one at Hampden where Edouard dinked it down the middle against Hearts in the delayed 2020 Scottish Cup final, and Gordon was reportedly furious at his former teammate for what he viewed as disrespectful or unprofessional?

Imagine being angry because a striker had the nerve to score a penalty in a cup final.

That one told me plenty.

It was not unprofessional. It was not disrespectful. It was football. Edouard had the skill and nerve to execute it. Gordon did not save it. Celtic went on to win the cup on penalties, completing the quadruple treble after a 3-3 draw.

That is the game. Sometimes you get embarrassed. Sometimes someone makes you look foolish. Sometimes the other guy has the moment and you do not.

You take it. Or at least you should.

So, when Gordon now talks about anger and injustice after Hearts’ title collapse, I find myself asking the obvious question. Is he bitter against Celtic?

Or is this just stupid?

Because there are only so many explanations for this nonsense. Either Gordon genuinely believes Hearts were somehow cheated out of the title, in which case he has allowed emotion to detach him from the facts. Or he knows fine well that Hearts had the thing in their hands and dropped it, but is choosing to feed the grievance anyway.

Neither is a great look.

And let’s be honest: this whole “injustice” narrative is not harmless. It has already contributed to one of the most deranged few weeks Scottish football has seen in years. After the Motherwell penalty, the SFA publicly criticised what it called a “hysterical media narrative” and revealed that referee John Beaton and his family required police protection after his personal details were leaked online.

That is where this stuff leads. This is why Gordon’s talk about “injustice” and “anger” is so idiotic, coming as it does amidst that continuing frenzy.

Calling a football defeat an injustice when the whole country has spent weeks acting like Celtic’s title is illegitimate because a plucky Hearts story did not get the ending everyone wanted is pouring petrol on flames. He’s sounding like an idiot.

Yet Gordon is not some daft fan in the pub. He is a senior professional. He is an experienced goalkeeper. He is a Scotland international. He knows the weight his words carry.

So, he should be asked the simple question.

What injustice? Name it.

Was the injustice that Hearts failed to defend a lead at Celtic Park? Was it that Celtic scored legitimate goals? Was it that the initial refusal to award our second was corrected? Was it that Hearts were asked to survive a few more minutes and could not? Was it that the league table, in the end, reflected the points earned across the season rather than the emotional preference of people who wanted someone else to win?

Because unless Gordon can define the injustice, he should probably stop using the word.

Disappointment? Absolutely.

Anger? Fine, if he wants.

Pain? Of course.

Hearts came closer than they have in generations. They had the title in sight. They could practically feel it. Then Celtic ripped it away at the death. That must hurt like hell.

But Hell, that is professional sport.

Injustice is not losing a title decider after leading with four minutes to go. Injustice is not failing to do the job when the job is reduced to “do not lose.” Injustice is not conceding twice under pressure and then spending the next few weeks building a mythology around the collapse. That is denial.

That is the Hearts fairy tale curdling into grievance.

Craig Gordon can dress it up any way he likes. He can talk about hurt, anger and all the rest of it. He can disable comments if the backlash gets too spicy. He can wrap the whole thing in maroon sorrow and pretend something wicked was done to his club.

But the facts are brutal and beautifully simple.

Hearts came to Celtic Park needing a point. They led. They were minutes from the title. They conceded. Then they conceded a third.

Celtic won the league.

These people need to get over it. All they are doing is inflaming a situation that does not need any more of it. It is shameful.

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