{"id":522775,"date":"2026-04-10T05:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/522775\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T05:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:19:11","slug":"peter-grant-hits-back-at-derek-mcinnes-as-hearts-and-rangers-complaints-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/522775\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Grant hits back at Derek McInnes as Hearts and Rangers complaints questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Celtic\u2019s side of the post-split fixture schedule has certainly rattled a few cages across Scottish football. <\/p>\n

Whilst Derek McInnes<\/a> openly stated that he is happy to play Celtic<\/a> in a \u2018car park\u2019 for their last-day showdown, the Hearts boss also commented on the timing of the Jambos games, including playing after Martin O\u2019Neill\u2019s side. <\/p>\n

But Peter Grant<\/a> has quickly stepped in to shut down the sudden complaints stemming from the Hearts and Rangers camps.<\/p>\n

The Celtic hero was quick to highlight the glaring hypocrisy, noting that rivals were perfectly happy with the setup when the champions of Scotland<\/a> were constantly forced to play catch-up on Sundays earlier in the campaign because they were in Europe. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hear Derek (McInnes) is complaining about the time difference,\u201d said Grant. \u201cWell, a couple of weeks ago, he wasn\u2019t when I was saying that Celtic were always playing last. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, all of a sudden, it\u2019s a problem playing last. It wasn\u2019t a problem a few weeks ago when they were sitting top of the league and clear. So, you can\u2019t have your cake and eat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

How confident are you that Celtic will win this weekend? <\/p>\n

Tell us your predictions \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n

\"ACredit: Getty Images\/Matthew Lewis \"DerekPhoto by Zak Mauger\/Getty ImagesPeter Grant dismisses cries over post-split fixtures<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get it twisted, playing first is always better, and Grant understands that more than anybody else because he endured that during his career.<\/p>\n

Yes, there is an advantage to Celtic<\/a>, and everyone would want to be in that situation, but once again, where was all this noise weeks ago and months ago? <\/p>\n

Added to that, there have also been complaints, not from McInnes himself, but from Hearts pundits, that they have to play at Celtic Park<\/a> on the final day of the campaign. <\/p>\n

Once again, Grant was on hand to shut down any grand SPFL conspiracy<\/a> regarding the final day, as he pointed out the simple logistical reality on Go Radio. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hear Derek is complaining about the time difference,\u201d said Grant. \u201cWell, a couple of weeks ago, he wasn\u2019t when I was saying that Celtic were always playing last.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, all of a sudden, it\u2019s a problem playing last. It wasn\u2019t a problem a few weeks ago when they were sitting top of the league and clear. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you can\u2019t have your cake and eat it. That\u2019s why I thought there is an advantage if you are first and you win, because you are sitting in the dressing room with the three points in the bag. That\u2019s why I am glad Celtic have got an opportunity to play before everybody else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTake it back a few weeks. This wasn\u2019t seemingly an issue for Rangers or Hearts. They were always playing on the Saturday before Celtic, and they never complained when Celtic had to play every Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the point I am going on about. They can\u2019t forget that as quickly as they have. That\u2019s why I am delighted to see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, there was no issue. Now there is an issue. You are 100% right. How can the fixtures go any other way? You were always playing Rangers in the middle one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, where were you going to play Hearts. Hearts are playing Hibs as well, you have to make sure that\u2019s not the last one. You can\u2019t have Celtic and Rangers as the last one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Celtic\u2019s side of the post-split fixture schedule has certainly rattled a few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[63797,59,50128,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-522775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-derek-mcinnes","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-peter-grant","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}