I couldn't care less about Celtic VAR row because I'm more angry about embarrassing mess Hearts are in – Ryan Stevenson
Steven Naismith was left raging after seeing two VAR spot-kick calls go against Hearts at Celtic Park.
But I’ll be honest, I couldn’t care less. Right now, I’m just more angry about the state the club has got themselves in. I know this column is starting to feel a bit like groundhog day but I feel I need to trot out the word I’ve used a few times over the last couple of weeks to sum up my feelings that we’re now bottom of the league - ‘embarrassing’.
It’s just not good enough and again is the direct result of the poor decisions that were taken over the summer when it came to recruitment. I’ve had a few folk take a pop at me since I started voicing my criticism this season, accusing me of trying to get Naisy the sack. But nothing could be further from the truth - mostly because I don’t think binning the manager will change anything.
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The new boss will still have to work with the same squad who are entirely reliant on one man - Lawrence Shankland - scoring the goals to get them out of trouble. We only have to go back to 2020 to see what happens when a bad start is allowed to spiral out of control.
But I’m not actually worried about relegation. As bad as this start has been, Hearts should still have enough about them to get up the table and into the top six come May. What’s more concerning is the aim of finishing third.
With Aberdeen showing no signs of slowing under Jimmy Thelin, the odds of us reining in the Dons are starting to look remote now they have a 14-point head start.
That’s why I’m more interested in what happens in Paisley next weekend than events at Parkhead on Saturday past. I always felt that playing against the Old Firm was a free hit. No-one ever expects you to get a result when you go to Celtic Park and Ibrox. It’s not like you climb back aboard the team bus for the drive back along the M8 at 6pm and the pundits on the radio are slaughtering you for failing to win in Glasgow.
In my day it was always expected that the Old Firm sides would get the win - and that’s still the case now, especially with this Hoops line-up who, in truth, are in another league entirely from the rest of the Premiership. The game I’m more interested in seeing is next week’s trip to St Mirren. Stephen Robinson’s side have recorded back-to-back top six finishes and they’ll present a far better measure of whether Hearts are making progress this season.
The time for talking is over, it’s now about action. But I was encouraged to see Shankland having the balls to run his mouth off at Parkhead.
There’s a social media clip doing the rounds showing the skipper shouting ‘pressure, pressure’ at Celtic new boy Arne Engels as the £11million signing stepped up to convert his penalty.
Fair play, Engels proved he could handle it. But I liked the fact that Shankland was willing to make himself look silly in the hope it could get inside the Belgian’s head.
I never liked to talk to much when an opponent was stepping up for a spot-kick because if they scored, they would be well within their rights to turn round and really take the p**s out of you. But I do think the game has gone a little bit too polite, too nice these days. This generation don’t know half of the stuff that went on in my time.
I came through during a period when it was the norm to have a set of studs raked down your Achilles as you were waiting for a corner to come in or to have a size nine planted on your toes as you tussled for a throw in.
I remember taking a swing at Ryan Jack’s crown jewels one day up at Pittodrie. He was only young at the time and I can just remember the look of shock on his face as I connected with his haw-maws.
You can’t get away with that sort of stuff these days with VAR's watchful eye, so maybe it’s just as well I’ve retired. I wouldn’t have lasted a minute. Even the trolling back then was vicious. The worst for it were my fellow Record Sport columnist Chris Sutton and his old Celtic team-mate Alan Thompson.
Thomo was always telling you to go wash his Bentley in the car park - which was a bit of a stinger given I was cutting about in an old Corsa at the time! I just hope Hearts will have a bit more to say for themselves against Saints.
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