Losing the Scottish Cup semi final to Aberdeen was just another painful blow for Hearts fans in a season full of gut-wrenching disappointments.
But if that was bad then the statement that followed two days later from Tynecastle blaming the officials was absolutely excruciating. Downright EMBARRASSING. My toes are curling just writing about it now.
The Hearts board know they've got it badly wrong and they're just trying to deflect everything like it's not their fault. Do they think that fans are stupid enough to believe that garbage? They are actually trying to con their own supporters by claiming referee decisions have cost them this year. No they’ve not. They need to take responsibility and own the failure.
I know chief executive Andrew McKinlay apologised to the fans last week. But that should have been the final word. Not more blame throwing a few days later.
They had two days to think about things after the semi final and they’ve decided it was a good idea to come out with that statement?! Trying to blame everybody other than themselves.
Just hold your hands up and say ‘as a board, we've f***ed up this year. It won’t happen again’. End of. To then argue that Hearts are second bottom out of the ‘not getting decisions’ table - it’s a ‘poor old me’ tale and if that's what Hearts are hanging their hat on then it speaks volumes.
It screams of a board that are embarrassed by the fact that 22,000 fans travelled through to Hampden and were impeccable and sang the full game but in the end were left disappointed. Again.
The season has been a disaster from the get go. The recruitment wasn’t good enough last summer, handing Steven Naismith a new contract then firing him two months later was bizarre.
And finishing in the bottom six and failing to make a cup final is nowhere near good enough. I get the initial anger on Saturday from the players’ and manager’s perspective. If I was in the dressing room I would be raging at losing two men. Emotions run high because it’s a semi-final and they had so many fans there.
But the facts of the matter are: Michael Steinwender deserved to be sent off just before half time and Cammy Devlin’s second yellow card is also the correct decision.
I don't like it because he's tried to win the ball and he's just mistimed it. But in this day and age it is a booking.
I think the rules are wrong - but John Beaton was absolutely right. The referee has to follow the rules. He did that.
I can’t believe the anger over Steinwender’s red. It was a stonewall decision as Topi Keskinen was racing clean through and nobody was going to catch him.
He should have let him go and hoped Craig Gordon bailed them out with a big save. Either way they would still have 11 men on the park. Cammy’s unlucky. He’s knackered and is trying to clear the ball. He doesn’t see the boy coming in off his blind side. But it’s a booking. At the end of the day they could still defend the goal better. They will admit that in their debrief.
Hearts dug in well but I reckon Neil Critchley was too negative with his decisions after the first red card. At half-time he put on two centre halves on and took two strikers off. You're basically saying let’s hang on for 75 minutes for penalties.
I understand there's an air of caution about it but still have a bit about you where you just go and have an actual pop at winning.
It’s fair to say the pressure has really ramped up on the manager but I still think he deserves to get the summer window and a crack at next season. Then it’s time to deliver.
Listen, the last couple of weeks I’ve questioned his decisions at vital times. Between Neil and his coaching staff and the players they had done well to get themselves into positions where they could have made a memorable season.
But in the last three games they've let themselves down. At key moments the manager’s made wrong decisions, which he'll hopefully learn from because, if you think about it, he's not had the experience of managing a club at this level.
So, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But the last three games, Dundee United, Motherwell, and then the semi-final, have been massively disappointing.
Top six and a cup final was in Hearts’ hands and they blew it leaving them with a grim end to the season in the bottom half of the table.
Every game matters because you're representing a club the size of Hearts. But it’s majorly deflating. Going into training every day, knowing that there's nothing to play for, I think the players will look back with regret.
They could have been in the top six against Rangers, Celtic and the biggest game against Hibs and with a cup final to look forward to.
It's not just a tiny bubble that's burst - it's a massive one. But this is what they deserve for a season that’s continually failed to deliver.
The players, management and the board now have a responsibility in the last five games to give the fans something to shout about, not the other way round about.
Go and win the five games. It still won’t be good enough overall. But it’s the least they can do.
