{"id":5631,"date":"2026-05-14T12:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5631"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:22:20","slug":"fans-spot-hearts-stewards-appearing-to-cover-up-title-podium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5631","title":{"rendered":"Fans spot Hearts stewards appearing to cover up title podium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>What a title race!<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>After defeating Falkirk 3-0 at Tynecastle, Hearts were on track to celebrate a first league title since 1959 on home soil. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Celtic however knew that a draw probably wouldn&#8217;t be enough going into the final day due to Hearts significant goal difference advantage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>And in the 99th minute, Celtic prayers were answered when they were gifted a controversial penalty. Former Manchester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho stepped up and sent the title to a last-day decider. (You can view the spot-kick below).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:0\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>However, what transpired after the late winner for Celtic will leave Hearts fans asking each other &#8220;what if&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>A fan outside the ground spotted stadium stewards covering up what appeared to be the podium for the potential title celebrations. (You can view the still image below).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:1\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>You can see the placard with the Hearts badge is the same one used in Celtic&#8217;s title podium last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:2\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Although it&#8217;s standard procedure for stadiums to have championship podiums ready when a team is on the brink of a title, this instance adds a comedic effect before the final day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>In the past famous examples of this scenario have often been clipped from Premier League decision days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:3\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Speaking to Sky Sports after the match Hearts manager, Derek McIness admitted his grievances over the controversial VAR decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>McInnes said: &#8220;I think it&#8217;s disgusting. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a penalty kick. But we&#8217;re up against it, we&#8217;re up against everybody and we&#8217;ll be ready for Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:4\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>There were two more shouts for a penalty kick at our game at Motherwell. If I&#8217;m Motherwell, I&#8217;m really disappointed with that having seen it again. I think it&#8217;s so poor that they&#8217;ve been given that penalty.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>McInnes finished by rallying his troops before Saturday&#8217;s league decider: &#8220;We need to just go and deal with the game on Saturday.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2><strong>Win \u20ac\/\u00a31,000 in our FREE Win-Lose-Draw Predictor<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>In the age of stats geeks, AI-generated Fantasy teams and nth-degree analysis, we&#8217;ve stripped football knowledge down to its most instinctual form: Win, Lose or Draw.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>In JOE&#8217;s new Premier League Win-Lose-Draw Predictor, you can prove your footballing nous up against your mates, while also being in with a chance of winning \u20ac1,000\/\u00a31,000 each week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:5\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>And if no users predict all results correctly, EVERY player who submitted an entry will be placed into a random prize draw for the \u20ac1,000\/\u00a31,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Two players came within an inch of winning the jackpot last week with 9\/10 right &#8211; play below for this weekend&#8217;s fixtures! It takes just a few minutes to enter\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/predictor.joemediagroup.ie\/pl?competition=premier-league\" width=\"100%\" height=\"1900\" frameborder=\"0\" data-embed-type=\"embed\" data-embed-src=\"https:\/\/predictor.joemediagroup.ie\/pl?competition=premier-league\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#Fans #spot #Hearts #stewards #appearing #cover #title #podium<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What a title race! After defeating Falkirk 3-0 at Tynecastle, Hearts were on track to celebrate a first league title since 1959 on home soil. Celtic however knew that a draw probably wouldn&#8217;t be enough going into the final day due to Hearts significant goal difference advantage. And in the 99th minute, Celtic prayers were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5761,4013,5762,1665,5758,5763,5759,3245,5760,4319],"class_list":{"0":"post-5631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-appearing","9":"tag-celtic","10":"tag-cover","11":"tag-fans","12":"tag-hearts","13":"tag-podium","14":"tag-spfl","15":"tag-spot","16":"tag-stewards","17":"tag-title"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}