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-clinching clash at Parkhead.
The arrest comes four months after hundreds of Celtic fans spilled onto the pitch in May, turning what should have been a night of celebration into a chaotic confrontation with Hearts players and staff. Tensions flared on the turf as jubilant scenes blurred into ugly flashpoints.
Police have confirmed that a man has been detained in connection with an alleged attack. He has been released on an undertaking to appear in court at a later date.
The development follows a storm of claims and corrections around what actually happened that afternoon. BBC pundit Pat Nevin recently apologised after insisting, in what he later described as a “heat of the moment” comment, that then-Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland had been assaulted during the same pitch invasion.
SunSport understands the player at the centre of the allegation is centre-back Frankie Kent, who came off the bench shortly after half-time in that match and has since left Tynecastle for Oxford Utd this summer.
The fallout from the title decider has rumbled on for months. Celtic were fined £7,500 for the pitch invasion and warned they could be forced to close 1,000 seats for a home Scottish Premiership fixture if there is another “significant incursion” before the end of the 2027-28 season.
The club were also hit with a separate £2,500 fine after supporters entered the pitch and used pyrotechnics away to Motherwell, a game settled by a 99th-minute penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho.
Celtic chairman Brian Wilson pushed back strongly against claims of serious disorder after the Hearts match. He said: “There was nobody attacked. The game did finish.
“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 on the day. In a sharply worded statement, the Tynecastle club said: “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 argument over that wild afternoon at Parkhead moves from the airwaves and statements into the hands of the justice system.
