Hearts players were left in tears upon return to Tynecastle after their devastating defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title decider.
After going down 3-1 late on at Celtic Park, to concede the title to Martin O’Neill’s side on the final day, some Hearts players were abused by Celtic supporters during a pitch invasion following Callum Osmand’s third goal.
Notably, striker Lawrence Shankland could be seen in a dispute with a Celtic fan, with Derek McInnes’ side falling agonisingly short of a first title since 1960.
Hearts were welcomed back home by their supporters, but several players were visibly upset at the events earlier in the day.
Alexandros Kyziridis, Frankie Kent, Stuart Findlay and Jamie McCart all struggled to contain their emotions upon return to Tynecastle Park, with hundreds of fans greeting them.
McInnes was seen consoling his players with fans unveiling banners of gratitude after a historic season for the Jambos, despite finishing as runner-up.
Meanwhile, the behaviour of some Celtic fans towards Hearts players has been described as “unacceptable” by James McFadden.
“I understand spilling over, onto the pitch, with emotion, you back off, but this is unacceptable to me, going up to players. I get emotions running high, players should be safe on the football pitch. You do not want to see that,” said the former Motherwell forward.
“There will always be people who spoil it for everyone. You heard the majority of the fans booing the fans that came onto the pitch. They understand. That is unacceptable to me. Players should be safe on a football pitch. They should not be surrounded by stewards, Shankland is surrounded by his teammates to make sure nothing happened to him, that is unacceptable.”
And former Celtic striker Chris Sutton also agreed: “I totally agree, there’s no place for that, you can imagine how the Hearts players felt, such a long season and losing it at the end.
“The Celtic fans that have got involved with the Hearts players are lucky they didn’t get a thump or two.”
