It’s unlikely that any tears will be shed for Tynecastle as Celtic fans leave the old ground this afternoon.
With Gary Locke’s brave young lions anchored at the bottom of the SPFL relegation is inevitable with the future of the club far from certain despite recent upbeat noises which followed immediately after the League Cup semi-final defeat from 9 man Inverness Caley Thistle.
Years of living beyond their means fuelled by the ego of Vladimir Romanov have taken their toll with reality a painful place for the club to discover.
Attempts to play Hearts up as some sort of major force in the Scottish game are largely groundless with Aberdeen and Dundee United far more successful than the Edinburgh club who went almost 40 years without a trophy during Scottish footballs most successful period.
In Europe Hearts have made no impact with Kilmarnock and Dunfermline enjoying relative success in the sixties while under Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean Aberdeen and Dundee United made an impact while Hearts yo-yo’d between the top two divisions.
In recent times Tynecastle has been one of Celtic’s favourite hunting grounds with the last three visits bringing two 4-0 wins as well as a 7-0 Scottish Cup routing in December.
Those results have demoralised the home support who stayed away from the Scottish Cup tie in their droves as Celtic hammered home their superiority.
With relegation only a matter of timing and a televised lunchtime kick-off once again it’ll be the away support providing the atmosphere as Neil Lennon’s side begin the countdown to clinching the title for the third year running.
Next season Celtic will be chasing championship number four while Hearts, should they avoid liquidation, will compete in the Championship just two years after after winning the Scottish Cup again Hibs at Hampden.
When Celtic next visit Tynecastle is anyone’s guess but a clean sheet and goals from former Hibs strikers Anthony Stokes and Leigh Griffiths would be a fitting farewell to a ground that may be soon about to join Cathkin Park and Kilbowie Park as footnotes in Celtic history.
Great article,Joe.
Yes,living way beyond their means.Like their orange cousins at Ibrokes.
” TWO CHEEKS OF THE SAME ARSE ” (using
a G.Galloway quote )
Or as Monti,a regular poster, on Joe’s blogs puts it,
“TWO ARSES WITH THE SAME CHEEK ”
Either way,they both have spent money
they could not afford.
As the song goes,today,” we’ll meet again,
don’t know where, don’t know when,I know(big if) we’ll meet again,some sunny
day “
There’s no sentiment in top flight Football….LETS BURY THEM AGAIN.
Wee swally looks like he’s been jist been ejected oot his Local in that Photo.
No tears for the plastic huns. Edinburgh,s green and white. HH.
Congratulations Fraser YNWA.
Pye, I’ll second that.
Good battling performance.
Griffiths scored an excellent goal,and
enjoyed his celebrations.Appropriate he
went to Lenny,as doubters were.saying
don’t take a chance on him.
What a bonus,Balde setting up Pukki for a
goal.Never thought I would see that day.
Stokesy should have played in Pukki,for a goal earlier.
What about the Jambos ?
Hamill fouled the whole game.They were fired up to break big Fraser.I have never
seen a drop ball comtested all season,until
today.
What about McCann willing them to score
before 31 Min.He even said last chance to
do it.
Good riddance to Swinecastle.Like the cesspit that it.is.Very similar to the one at
Ibrokes.
Our players will not have to put up the venom spewed at them,at these places,
for a VERY LONG TIME.
Good bye and Shute the door be hind you Don’t call us we will call you But don’t hold your breath You’s are cut from the same cloth as your brother sevco Bye bye Hail Hail JMJ
Well done bhoys and congratulations to big Frazer ‘La Gran Muralla’ Forster.
Seeing Griffiths scoring a glorious winner and then run over to celebrate with Lenny must have really stuck in the Spambos craw!
Mind that trap door Spambos…..oh too late. See ya!
To all Look guys I know it’s in our nature to be suspicious but lets enjoy what we’ve got , watch for trolls and support the hoops. HH
Well done big Fraser Forster! Virgil and Efe deserve plenty of praise for their contribution to Fosters record breaking.
The bitter Sevconians are all up in arms and attempting to belittle the achievement by saying Forster didn’t have any challenge or competition in front of him! Yes, despite their keepers failing to come anywhere near a 13 game run of clean sheets against part time players in Scotland’s bottom tiers, they think Fraser’s achievement is worthless! Strange peepil.
LET IT GO Stay calm stay cool, don’t react to any perceived slight. We will stay top and always will till servo Bursts ‘re morphs (whatever) don’t react (THeyl love it) .
Eebee,
Don’t worry about trolls on here.
Joe has the most modern ANTI ZOMBIE
software,known to man( or zombies )
Workmanlike but uninspiring performance today, we will need to step up the gears in midweek v Aberdeen. Hearts did little other than get bodies behind the ball and we didn’t have much movement to create openings. Too many square passes and poor crosses. Thought Brown – Stokes – Commons were very ineffective, Matthews still lacking sharpness and Mulgrew looks uncomfortable at full back – clearly aware of being exposed by his lack of pace. On the plus side, I thought Biton was excellent and Johansen came onto a strong game. Delighted to see Griffiths get off the mark and the cameo appearances offered to Pukki & Balde shows they both deserve longer. With the lack of width we should have introduced borigter earlier to inject some pace / width into the side. No idea why we wasted a jersey in giving Samaras a sub berth….surely a promising youth player would be delighted to take his place and more worthy.
Should be big match next season Wonga1 v Wonga2