Celtic Supporter Arrested Over Alleged Assault on Frankie Kent

A Celtic supporter has been arrested over an alleged assault on Hearts defender Frankie Kent during last season’s dramatic title decider at Parkhead.

The arrest comes four months after hundreds of Celtic fans flooded the pitch in May, scenes that turned a day of celebration into a flashpoint as Jambos players and staff found themselves face to face with home supporters.

Police confirmed a man has been detained and later released on an undertaking to appear in court at a future date.

The development follows BBC pundit Pat Nevin’s on-air apology after he claimed, in the “heat of the moment”, that then-Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland had been assaulted during the same chaotic pitch invasion. Those claims were later walked back.

SunSport understands the player at the centre of the alleged incident is Kent, the experienced centre-back who came off the bench shortly after half-time that afternoon and has since left Tynecastle for Oxford Utd.

That afternoon’s celebrations have rumbled on for months in the background of Scottish football, with accusations, denials and sharply contrasting accounts of what unfolded once the final whistle blew and the crowd surged onto the turf.

Celtic were hit with a £7,500 fine and warned they could be forced to close 1,000 seats for a future home Scottish Premiership match if there is another “significant incursion” onto the pitch before the end of the 2027-28 season.

The club had already been punished with a £2,500 fine for a previous incident away to Motherwell, when supporters entered the pitch and used pyrotechnics. That game was settled deep into stoppage time by a 99th-minute penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho.

In the immediate aftermath of the Hearts clash, Celtic chairman Brian Wilson pushed back strongly against claims of serious disorder.

“There was nobody attacked. The game did finish,” he said. “The Hearts players were not advised by police to leave the stadium promptly. It was all rubbish.

“And yet people who should have known better or people with axes to grind who couldn’t quite conceal them, made this into a running narrative until it ran out of steam. So we weren’t going to get involved in that stupid debate.”

Hearts took a very different view. The Tynecastle club issued a sharply worded statement on the day, condemning what their players and staff had faced.

“Heart of Midlothian utterly condemns the shameful scenes at Celtic Park this afternoon which have, once again, embarrassed Scottish football.

“Reports of serious physical and verbal abuse towards our players and staff, both on the pitch and elsewhere, are deeply disturbing.

“We are investigating this fully and are in dialogue with Police Scotland.

“We will make no further comment at this time other than to say that it is completely unacceptable that our players and staff were put in that situation.”

Now, with an arrest made and a court appearance to come, the fallout from that title-deciding afternoon is no longer just a war of words. It will be tested in a courtroom, long after the final whistle of last season.