O'Neill dismisses 'nonsense' criticism of Celtic title-winning pitch invasion

Martin O’Neill has come out swinging in defence of Celtic supporters after Saturday’s title-winning pitch invasion at Paradise drew a storm of criticism from Hearts and sections of the media…

Celtic secured a fifth successive Scottish Premiership championship in the most dramatic of fashions, with Callum Osmand’s 98th-minute strike making it 3-1 and sending the Celtic Park faithful spilling onto the park in pure, unbridled joy. You couldn’t script it. And O’Neill, to his eternal credit, wasn’t about to let the hand-wringers have the last word.

Speaking via BBC Sport, O’Neill told Talksport host Jim White exactly what he thought of the criticism: “I totally disagree with that. I don’t know about confrontations in terms of the Hearts players. There’s a lot of hyperbole about that. Let’s find out the real picture.”

When it was put to him that Hearts felt the scenes had embarrassed Scottish football, the manager didn’t flinch. “As they might do. I just don’t believe it. I think it’s nonsense.” Two words. That’s all it needed.

O’Neill was equally sharp on the timing of the invasion itself, pointing out what most of us watching already knew. “The fact is that when we scored the third goal, the game was essentially over, there were about eight seconds left, or whatever the case may be. The referee has claimed that he had blown the final whistle. And then there’s obvious excitement, we have scored to win the league.”

And when White persisted with the line that supporters simply shouldn’t have come onto the pitch, O’Neill gave the only honest answer available. “Well, start telling that to every single football club. It’s a home game and we’d just won the league, and the fans have come on to the field, all right? OK, so they should stay put then?” Exactly right.

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Celtic did issue an apology to Hearts on Sunday and confirmed cooperation with Police Scotland’s investigation – a sensible institutional response. But there’s a world of difference between the club managing the aftermath responsibly and accepting a false narrative that our supporters behaved like a mob. O’Neill understands that distinction perfectly.

The SPFL are awaiting the match delegate’s report before deciding on any action. Whatever comes of that process, the manager’s instinct to push back against the hyperbole matters. Our supporters have always worn their passion loudly, and winning a fifth title in a row at Paradise – in the 98th minute – is precisely the kind of moment that demands it.

The city centre disorder and the two police officers injured are serious matters that deserve proper investigation and nobody here is dismissing that. But conflating those incidents with tens of thousands of fans celebrating a league title on their own pitch is exactly the lazy conflation O’Neill is right to reject as nonsense.

Back your manager. Back your fans. Five-in-a-row. Enjoy every second of it.

Conall McGinty