Martin O'Neill comes out swinging over Celtic decision narrative and tells Hearts boss he'd have taken it
Manager uses recent incidents to back up his view
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill does not buy into the narrative that his team get all the big calls ahead of Saturday’s Premiership title decider against Hearts.
The defending champions were awarded a stoppage-time penalty during the week against Motherwell to give them a 3-2 victory at Fir Park. The win kept the gap between Celtic and leaders Hearts to a point going into the final game of the season.
The decision to penalise Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson for handball has been debated and criticised across the globe. O’Neill, however, pointed to decisions that he feels haven’t gone Celtic’s way during the course of the season - including an alleged foul on forward Daizen Maeda earlier in the match against Motherwell.
“That would be a big change from 20 years ago, let me tell you,” said O’Neill on Celtic landing all of the decisions. “If you want to go back to Easter Road, the Hibs player [Joe Newell] handled the ball and they got a goal from it. That was clear-cut and we didn’t get it. VAR decided it was fine.
“When we lost to Hibs, Liam Scales should have had a penalty and we didn’t get that either. People talk about the Alistair Johnston tackle against Rangers. I thought he was lucky. But then people think we should have had a penalty against Motherwell for Daizen Maeda being charged in the back.
“I hate to say this, and my paranoia is setting in, but it’s because it’s Celtic. That’s my view but I will stick with it.
“I genuinely think we should have had a penalty the other night when Daizen was fouled. But if you look back over the course of the season, the top three sides have had decisions go for them and against them.
“I’m not saying things level themselves out, I wouldn’t make that argument with a couple of games left. But the reason there’s been a big furore is because it’s the end of the season. If this happened in October you wouldn’t have heard a word.”
The decision to give Celtic a penalty was branded “disgusting” by Hearts boss Derek McInnes, whose side would have held a three-point advantage and superior goal difference of six had the Motherwell match ended 2-2.
“Listen, it was the heat of the moment,” O’Neill said of his Hearts counterpart’s comments. “There should be a proper debate in the summer about penalties. We all know what a clear cut penalty is but the word ‘deliberate’ seems to have gone out of the game.
“To me, in terms of the rules, it’s not really a debate. It was relatively clear cut if he handled the ball.You can debate the whys and wherefores of what’s happening and FIFA and UEFA should look at it, because it’s not great at all. But as we stand, these are the rules.
“In the heat of the moment he’s come out and had a go. But when he looks at it, if it had been awarded for him he would have been happy enough to take it.”
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