Hearts chairman reignites Celtic title controversy with fresh Parkhead criticism

Martin O’Neill’s side secured a fifth consecutive Scottish Premiership title with a 3-1 victory over Derek McInnes’ Hearts on the final day, denying the Edinburgh outfit their first league crown in 66 years.

Callum Osmand’s third goal sparked a pitch invasion, forcing referee Don Robertson to bring proceedings to a premature end.

Hearts players were subsequently forced to retreat to the dressing room before travelling back to Edinburgh still wearing their kits.

A police investigation into alleged assaults on visiting players remains ongoing, with one individual charged and another handed a football banning order.

Paterson has now criticised the decision to schedule the title decider at Celtic Park, arguing that Hearts should have been granted a home fixture after leading the Premiership at the split.

He said via Hearts TV: “The final week was difficult on a number of fronts. Amongst other things, we were disappointed by the unprecedented decision that the team leading the league at the time of the split were to play our final game away from home.

“The circumstances at the end of that game were from our perspective completely unacceptable. We took advice and made our concerns very clear to the football authorities.

“Standing back from it all, I think we’d like to see greater transparency and consistency around key decisions in Scottish football. Because standards and processes matter, particularly at important points in the season. I think there’s room for improvement.

“I understand the frustration about how little supporters heard from us afterwards. There was and remains a live police investigation into actions against the players and that obviously limited what we could say publicly.

“But even with those constraint, I think we could have communicated more clearly. In the end, we had to think about what was best for Hearts with a new management team, a new season to prepare for, we felt the right thing was to draw a line and look forward.

“But our supporters should know we did everything we could to stand up for Hearts. We will always do that and we certainly haven’t forgotten what happened last season.

“But our focus now has to be on putting the club in the strongest possible position this season and beyond, and of course, communicating better along the way.”