O'Neill says criticism of Celtic pitch invasion is 'nonsense'

Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill says there has been "a lot of hyperbole" surrounding the scenes following the club's Premiership title win on Saturday.

O'Neill's side scored two late goals to snatch the league from Hearts, after which Celtic fans invaded the Parkhead pitch.

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Hearts players left the stadium immediately while still in their kits due to what the Tynecastle club say was a "menacing and threatening atmosphere inside the stadium".

When it was put to him in an interview on TalkSport on Monday that the Tynecastle club had stated that the situation had "embarrassed Scottish football", Celtic boss O'Neill said: "As they might do. Well, I don't believe that, I just don't believe it, I think it's nonsense."

Host Jim White then suggested the incident had damaged the image of Scottish football.

"I'm sorry, I totally disagree with that," O'Neill said. "I don't know about the confrontations in terms of the Hearts players, and there's a lot of hyperbole about that, let's find out the real picture.

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"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 at the end. And then there's obvious excitement, we have scored to win the league."

White then suggested supporters should not have come on to the pitch, to which O'Neill said: "Well, start telling that to every single football club.

"I assumed that the final whistle had gone at exactly the same moment that we put the ball in the net for the third goal. It's a home game and we'd just won the league, and the fans have come on to the field, all right? Okay, so they should stay put then?"

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