Anderton angry over booing fans
Hearts chief executive Phil Anderton condemned the behaviour of their fans who brought shame to the club by failing to observe the tribute for Pope John Paul II.
Referee Stuart Dougal was forced to end the minute’s silence after just 24 seconds as a small section of supporters booed and jeered despite the club’s appeal on Friday.
Anderton admitted it had damaged the game and therefore moved quickly to apologise to Celtic and the Scottish Football Association.
He said: “The club could not and would not condone the actions of those who chose to undermine the tribute to Pope John Paul II before the semi-final.
“Scottish football chose to join with people around the world to observe and respect the minute of silence and it is disturbing that some Hearts fans failed to see the significance of this occasion. There is no room for that sort of behaviour in the game.
“We are trying to generate an atmosphere where families are happy to return to football grounds around the country and the fact their actions will have been covered live by Sky across the UK and beyond will have done those ambitions no favours at all.
“The club appealed on Friday for all fans travelling to the game to respect the minute of silence and will write to both Celtic and the SFA to apologise on behalf of those who failed to adhere to that request.”
Robertson added: “Football’s my religion. It is always going to be a tough one and I don’t think the minute’s silence was observed yesterday (when Dundee United beat Hibernian in the other semi-final).
“It was always going to be a difficult one today. People did observe it and they deserve credit.
“But people have different beliefs and my religion is football and that’s all I’m concerned about.”
“It wasn’t very clever, was it?” said Celtic manager Martin O’Neill.
