Hearts have Hartson in their sights

GRAHAM BEAN

HEARTS have released their own video footage from Sunday’s combustible clash with Celtic at Tynecastle which appears to show John Hartson elbowing Andy Webster in the head.

The Celtic striker escaped with a booking from the incident which took place in the opening minutes. Hartson later denied hitting Webster, adding that he was "all for elbowing in the game being stamped out".

The Welshman’s comments incensed Craig Levein, the Hearts head coach, who yesterday handed over the club’s tape of the flashpoint to the BBC whose cameras missed it.

Levein, who believes Hartson should have been sent off for violent conduct, claims the Celtic player’s remarks cast doubt on Webster’s honesty.

"For me it’s a deliberate elbow in the face," said Levein. "I said after the game that if John Hartson had elbowed Andy Webster he should be banned, and I think the comments from John himself say people should be banned if they elbow.

"But for him to try to turn this round on to Andy Webster, as he has done in the last couple of days, is wrong."

Despite new evidence coming to light, it is highly unlikely the Scottish Football Association will reopen the case. In the eyes of the governing body the yellow card handed out to Hartson means that the matter has been dealt with.

Andy Mitchell, the SFA’s spokesman, explained: "The SFA is not in the business of re-refereeing matches. The disciplinary procedure only allows a case to be reopened in exceptional circumstances if the referee and officials have not seen the incident. Also, privately filmed footage is not admissible under disciplinary procedures."

Like the BBC cameras, referee Kenny Clark also missed the Hartson/Webster spat, but it was brought to his attention by his assistant Brian McGarry.

Hartson told Celtic’s official website: "It was a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge, so I was disappointed with what happened. As soon as I got the yellow card he [Webster] got back up again and got on with the game.

"I am all for elbowing in the game being stamped out and I think you deserve to go if you are guilty of it, but there was nothing like that. I have always tried to be honest and fair. If anything, I’m disappointed that the TV cameras never caught it because it would have shown quite clearly that there was nothing in it at all."

Levein added: "We stumbled on this doing our video analysis. We would not have made anything of it if John Hartson had not suggested that Andy was making a meal of it."

A spokesman for Celtic said yesterday that the club had not seen the new footage and therefore could not comment.

The match, which Celtic won 1-0, was also marred by crowd misbehaviour.

Meanwhile, the Hearts Fans Forum has given its backing to chief executive Chris Robinson over his plans to sell Tynecastle and relocate to Murrayfield. The forum has taken a different view from other Hearts supporters’ groups which are vehemently opposed to the proposed flit.

Taken from the Scotsman