Martin O’Neill disappointed with outcome of Celtic’s Auston Trusty appeal

Martin O’Neill expressed disappointment after Celtic’s appeal against Auston Trusty’s red card in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Hearts was dismissed.

The American defender was sent off by referee Steven McLean with the visitors leading 2-1 in the 77th minute after being deemed to have denied Landry Kabore a goal-scoring opportunity.

Trusty was first shown a yellow card but it was upgraded to red after McLean was asked by VAR to check his pitchside monitor. It was the Hoops’ first domestic red card since March 2024.

Celtic lodged an appeal on Monday evening and it was heard by an independent panel at a fast-track tribunal on Tuesday where the claim was rejected.

Ahead of the Europa League clash with Utrecht at Parkhead on Thursday night, O’Neill, in his second spell as interim boss this season following his time as permanent boss between 2000 and 2005, said: “I’m just disappointed, really.

“I thought the referee’s decision in the first place was a yellow card, I didn’t think it was clear and obvious.

“But it was nice to get backing from a lot of referees who have refereed a lot of big, big matches when they were interviewed (in media) afterwards, but anyway, it is what it is.”

Quizzed about Celtic’s statement which revealed puzzlement at the decision and a vow to hold “further discussions with the SFA on the matter as we seek to understand the rationale for this and other decisions”, the Northern Irishman said: “I didn’t know about that, sorry. I wasn’t aware.”

When asked if it perhaps pointed to a discontent in general of refereeing in Scotland, the former Leicester, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest boss, tongue-in-cheek, said: “Well, you make up your own mind there about that one.

“It’s never been a problem before has it, really?

“I’d never had a problem with it in my first spell here, 25 years ago. Never had a problem at all. I just expected no decisions to come our way.”

Then when asked if things hadn’t changed over the years, O’Neill retorted, again light-heartedly: “Maybe it’s me. I have a lot of paranoia about me. But I’m seeing a shrink at the moment, so I’m perfectly all right.”