Celtic Chairman Brian Wilson Hits Back At “Rubbish” Hearts Allegations

Brian Wilson has rejected claims made in the aftermath of Celtic’s title celebrations against Hearts, describing parts of the narrative as “rubbish” and “froth”.

Celtic were hit with SPFL sanctions following pitch incursions at the end of last season, but the club’s interim chairman has now pushed back on some of the wider claims that followed the dramatic final day at Celtic Park.

Speaking in an interview with Celtic TV, Wilson said the club made a conscious decision not to get dragged into a public war of words after winning the league and Scottish Cup double.

He said: “We took a conscious decision in the immediate aftermath of the season, and the Hearts game in particular, not to join in exchanges of words with anyone.

“We were celebrating winning a double, and we were not going to get bogged down in what actually was an absurd series of debates about issues which didn’t really exist.

“One by one, they’ve been chopped off.

“There was nobody attacked. The game did finish. What else was there? The Hearts players were not advised by police to leave the stadium promptly. It was all rubbish.

“Yet people who should have known better, or people with axes to grind who couldn’t quite conceal them, made this into a running narrative until it ran out of steam.”

That is a significant response.

At the time, some of the language around the celebrations was strong. Serious claims were made in the public domain, including suggestions around player safety and alleged incidents involving Hearts players.

Wilson’s comments now make clear that Celtic believe much of that narrative did not stand up.

The obvious question is what happens next.

If claims were made that players were attacked, and those claims were not accurate, then simply letting the matter drift away is not good enough. Celtic supporters had their reputation dragged through the mud in the days after one of the most dramatic title wins in the club’s history.

Nobody is arguing that supporters should be on the pitch. Wilson himself accepted that incursions should not happen and said Celtic accept the SPFL sanctions.

But two things can be true at once.

Fans entering the field of play can be wrong, while parts of the reaction to it can also be exaggerated, unfair and damaging.

That is the real issue now.

If journalists, pundits or senior figures repeated serious claims that have since been shown to be wrong or unsupported, then they should clarify their position. At the very least, Celtic supporters deserve an acknowledgement that the narrative went too far.

Wilson added: “We let all that pass under the bridge, and at the end of the day what matters is we won a double.

“We won it in great style, and none of these issues that were turned into great mountains of controversy by artificial controversy held any water whatsoever.”

Celtic may have chosen not to fight every claim at the time. Emotion was high, the title had just been won, and the club clearly did not want the story hijacked.

But now the chairman has spoken, the record should not be allowed to remain blurred.

If the allegations were wrong, they should be corrected.

That is not about point-scoring. It is about fairness.