Hearts: ‘Menacing and threatening atmosphere’ forced Celtic Park exit

Describing the occasions in Glasgow as “deeply disturbing”, the Edinburgh membership say: “We will make no further comment at this time other than to say that it is completely unacceptable that our players and staff were put in that situation.

“Given the menacing and threatening ambiance contained in the stadium, our complete employees had no different however to go away instantly, with out enterprise post-match media duties.

“To our media partners, we apologize, but the safety of our staff was our prime focus during these unacceptable scenes.”

Hearts additionally famous that “nobody seemed to know whether or not the match had been brought to a finish”, given the Celtic followers entered the sector within the rapid aftermath of the third aim and with time nonetheless notionally left to play.

The newest incident comes after followers of each Celtic and Rangers invaded the pitch following the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox.

Hearts say they “expect the strongest action possible to be taken by the footballing authorities” to guard “the integrity of our game”.

“This season has seen Hearts capture the imagination of football fans, not only in Scotland but the world over,” they add.

“We pay tribute to Derek McInnes, his staff, the first team and the supporters, who have done the club proud this season. None of them deserved the disgraceful scenes that unfolded.”

The SPFL says it will likely be making no touch upon the post-match scenes till it has seen their match delegate’s report.

However, it’s believed that the match officers have confirmed that the full-time whistle was blown earlier than the gamers left the sector.