NafisaDerek McInnes has reignited his bitter dispute over Celtic’s Scottish Premiership title triumph after insisting that Hearts suffered a “real injustice” last season, with the Rangers boss refusing to back down from his belief that contentious refereeing decisions cost his former club a historic championship.
The former Hearts manager has brought the controversy back into the spotlight with a fresh round of comments, months after Celtic snatched the title in dramatic circumstances and McInnes was punished for his furious reaction to their controversial late penalty against Motherwell.
Now in charge at Rangers, McInnes has made it clear that his feelings about the way last season ended have not changed. His latest remarks also reveal the frustration he carried into the summer, when Hearts watched their long-awaited title dream disappear before Celtic celebrated another championship.
For Celtic supporters, the renewed criticism will be difficult to ignore. McInnes is not simply reflecting on a disappointing result; he continues to argue that Hearts should have been champions and that a handful of contentious decisions changed the outcome of the title race.
His latest comments have ensured that the dispute is firmly back in the headlines, even as he attempts to move forward with Rangers.
McInnes refuses to let Celtic title controversy go
Speaking ahead of his return to Tynecastle as Rangers manager, McInnes revisited the disappointment of losing the title with Hearts, insisting that the achievements of his former side deserved a different ending.
“I think there was a real injustice and a grievance towards the end of the season, we felt we should have won the title,” he said.
He added: “I wanted to be a manager who won a title outside the Old Firm. But for a few contentious decisions going against us, I think we would have won it.”
Those are particularly pointed words given that Celtic ultimately finished the campaign as champions after defeating Hearts 3-1 on the final day.
Hearts had spent much of the season challenging at the top of the table, raising the possibility of a remarkable title triumph that would have interrupted the dominance of Celtic and Rangers.
McInnes believes his team had done enough to make history, only for disputed decisions during the closing stages to leave them empty-handed.
He has not suggested that every Celtic victory was undeserved, but his continued insistence that Hearts should have won the championship keeps the circumstances of the Hoops’ triumph under scrutiny.
The late penalty that sparked McInnes’ furious Celtic attack
The flashpoint came during Celtic’s dramatic 3-2 victory over Motherwell, when a stoppage-time penalty awarded after a VAR review gave the visitors the opportunity to claim all three points.
The incident involved Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson, with referee John Beaton awarding the penalty after reviewing the footage. Kelechi Iheanacho converted, leaving Celtic with a crucial victory in the closing stages of the title race.
McInnes was furious.
“I think it’s disgusting. I don’t think it’s a penalty kick,” he declared at the time.
The Hearts boss also expressed frustration about other decisions involving his side, arguing that the balance of contentious calls had gone against them during a campaign in which every point mattered.
His comments sparked a major controversy and ultimately led to disciplinary action from the Scottish FA. McInnes received a four-match touchline ban, with the immediate portion later reduced following an appeal.
The punishment did little to change his position. Months later, he was still arguing that Hearts had suffered a genuine injustice and that the title could have ended differently.
For Celtic fans, the repeated criticism amounts to a challenge to the circumstances surrounding their championship success. For McInnes, it remains a grievance he believes was never properly addressed.
‘I was hoping somebody would throw a few punches’
McInnes has also revealed that he was disappointed by the response from Hearts’ leadership after the title race ended, believing the club should have publicly expressed more anger over the decisions that had left them so frustrated.
Speaking about the aftermath, he said:
“It was a time for sticking together. Everybody was hurting. It felt as if we were mourning, really, the way the season had ended.
“It felt like a real injustice. I was hoping somebody from the club would come out and throw a few punches, let people know about the anger and disappointment over what had happened. I was urging somebody from the club to speak.
“I’d already spoken out and probably got myself into a bit of bother, but it wasn’t up to me. It was up to somebody above me to speak out. There was frustration because of that.
“The only news Hearts fans were getting during that period was disappointment, and I was a big part of that.”
The comments show just how strongly McInnes felt about the conclusion of the campaign. He wanted Hearts to make their displeasure known publicly rather than leaving him as the principal voice criticising the decisions.
His frustration was not limited to the penalty itself. He also believed the club should have done more to communicate the scale of the disappointment felt by the players, staff and supporters.
That sense of grievance has now followed him into his new role at Rangers, where he remains just as outspoken about what happened during his final weeks in Edinburgh.
Celtic remain champions as the row refuses to disappear
The reality for McInnes is that Celtic remain the champions, having beaten Hearts on the final day to secure the title. The disputed Motherwell penalty became a defining moment in the closing stages, but it was not the only result that shaped the final standings.
Nevertheless, McInnes continues to believe that a few contentious decisions made the difference between Hearts achieving a historic triumph and finishing the campaign without the trophy.
His comments have ensured that Celtic’s title win remains tied to a debate over refereeing, while his disciplinary punishment has become another part of the story.
The Rangers boss has now made his position unmistakable: he believes Hearts should have won the league, and he is not prepared to pretend otherwise simply because the campaign is over.
Celtic supporters may dismiss his remarks as the frustration of a manager who came agonisingly close to achieving something extraordinary. McInnes, however, has made it clear that the grievance remains real for him.
And with the former Hearts boss now leading Rangers, his renewed criticism guarantees that the controversy surrounding Celtic’s title triumph is far from forgotten.
Nafisa
