If I want to talk about the referee I’ll be in big trouble, Heart captain Lawrence Shankland delivered all time Rant after Celtic clash
*“If I want to talk about the referee I’ll be in big trouble” – Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland delivers all-time rant after 2-1 loss vs Celtic*
Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland let his frustration boil over after a 2-1 defeat to Celtic at Celtic Park, delivering a post-match rant that’s already being replayed across Scottish football.
The striker scored Hearts’ opener but spent most of his post-match interview biting his tongue – and then not.
*The flashpoint*
Hearts took a shock lead in the 23rd minute when Shankland converted from the spot after Alistair Johnston was penalized for handball. Celtic hit back through Daizen Maeda before half-time, and Kyogo Furuhashi grabbed the winner in the 81st minute.
But the real anger came from two moments Hearts felt were missed. In the 67th minute, Alex Cochrane went down under a challenge from Nicolas Kühn inside the box. Referee Nick Walsh waved play on, and VAR did not intervene.
Then in stoppage time, Shankland was bundled over by Cameron Carter-Vickers as he tried to connect with a cross. Again, nothing was given.
“I’m not stupid,” Shankland said. “I know what I felt. I know what I saw back on the screen. And I know what we were told in pre-season about what’s a penalty.”
*“If I want to talk about the referee I’ll be in big trouble”*
When asked directly about the officiating, Shankland paused and laughed bitterly.
“If I want to talk about the referee I’ll be in big trouble. So I won’t. But you guys saw it. The fans saw it. It’s happening every week now.”
He didn’t stop there.
“We’re getting told one thing in meetings, and then we’re getting something different on the pitch. We were told handball would be called tighter. We were told contact in the box would be looked at. But it feels like the rules change depending on the game.”
Shankland pointed to the earlier penalty Hearts were denied against Motherwell, which SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum later admitted should have been given. “We get an apology on Monday. It doesn’t give us a point. It doesn’t change the table.”
*A captain at breaking point*
Shankland’s outburst reflects a growing frustration at Tynecastle. Hearts are 4th and still in the hunt for European football, but the feeling is they’ve been on the wrong end of key calls in games against Celtic, Rangers, and Motherwell.
Manager Derek McInnes was equally blunt. “I’ve watched it back. The one on Cochrane is a penalty. The one on Shankland is a penalty. I don’t know what else to say.”
McInnes revealed he’d spoken to Collum multiple times this season. “He agrees with us after the fact. But we need them to get it right in the 90 minutes. That’s the job.”
The club feels the narrative has shifted to “Hearts moaning” rather than the decisions themselves. McInnes made that clear in his own exchange with a Sky Sports journalist 24 hours later, telling him to “never talk about me or Hearts FC again”.
*Shankland’s personal battle*
The rant came after Shankland ended a 12-game goal drought with his penalty. The 29-year-old has been linked with a move away, but insists his focus is on Hearts.
“I’m here to score goals and fight for this club,” he said. “But it’s hard when you feel like you’re fighting everything else as well.”
He added that the squad’s anger is a positive. “We care. If we didn’t care, we’d just take it and go home. We believe we should be higher up the table, and games like this are why we’re not.”
*The bigger picture in Scotland*
Hearts aren’t alone. Motherwell captain Paul McGinn went viral last month for saying “something’s clearly amiss” with VAR. Michael Stewart called the Hearts-Motherwell non-penalty “wild”.
The SFA has introduced more transparency with referee announcements and VAR explanations, but trust hasn’t followed. Fans feel decisions are still inconsistent, and managers are running out of patience.
Shankland’s “I’ll be in big trouble” line summed it up. Players know the rules on criticizing officials. Fines of £1,000-£5,000 are common. So they speak in code, or they bite their tongue and let the frustration show another way.
*What happens next*
Hearts host Dundee United next, and Shankland will be expected to lead the line again. Whether he gets a fair chance from the officials is another question.
For now, his rant has given Hearts fans a voice. The clip of him saying “if I want to talk about the referee I’ll be in big trouble” has 600k views on X, with the caption: “Say it louder, Shanks. We’re all thinking it.”
Hearts feel they’re being penalized for speaking up. But as Shankland showed, sometimes the frustration gets too big to hide.
