Martin O’Neill Responds To Tony Bloom Celtic Accusation

Martin O’Neill has responded to comments made by Hearts shareholder Tony Bloom following the scenes after Celtic’s title-winning victory over Hearts at Celtic Park.

The fallout from Saturday’s dramatic Premiership finale has continued throughout the week after thousands of supporters entered the pitch following Callum Osmand’s stoppage-time goal.

Bloom later criticised the scenes publicly and said Hearts players had been “in danger” during the pitch invasion.

He also stated that “one or two” Hearts players had been assaulted after supporters entered the field following the final whistle celebrations.

The SPFL has already condemned the pitch incursion while discussions around supporter behaviour have continued across Scottish football over recent days.

O’Neill has now addressed Bloom’s comments directly while speaking this week.

The Celtic manager said any proven incident involving players would be taken seriously, but stressed the allegations made have not been established as fact.

O’Neill spoke about the situation while discussing the reaction to the events at Celtic Park.

He said: (Clyde 1 Superscoreboard), “Tony Bloom has had some reflections himself to Jim and he said that two of their players were assaulted.

“If that’s the case then obviously that would be a deep apology from all of us at Celtic Park. That has not been proved.

“That hasn’t been proved and that’s a fairly severe allegation so that’s not been proved.

“If it is eventually proved and there’s been a lot of searching around over videos and things like this here then obviously that would be very serious indeed but he did use the word assault and that hasn’t been proved yet.”

The discussion around Saturday’s events has largely overshadowed the football itself in the days since Celtic secured the title.

Celtic came from behind late in the match after goals from Daizen Maeda and Osmand completed a dramatic comeback to secure the Premiership on the final day of the season.

The celebrations immediately after Osmand’s goal led to supporters entering the pitch before play had officially restarted.

Authorities are continuing to review the incidents from the afternoon, while debate around the handling of the final moments remains ongoing ahead of this weekend’s Scottish Cup Final at Hampden.