Celtic: Martin O’Neill on transfers and red card appeal for Auston Trust

Caretaker manager Martin O’Neill is “disappointed” that the Scottish FA’s fast-track tribunal has rejected Celtic’s appeal against Auston Trust’s red card against Heart of Midlothian.

American centre-back brought down Hearts striker Pierre-Landry Kabore on Sunday and was initially shown a yellow card by referee Stephen McLean.

The VAR advised an on-pitch review and McLean deemed Trusty had been denied a goalscoring opportunity, so he upgraded the yellow card to red.

Hearts then equalized to secure a draw that maintained a six-point lead over the defending champions in the Scottish Premiership.

The officials’ decision was upheld by the Saudi Football Association’s Fast Track Tribunal on Tuesday, and Trusty will be suspended for this weekend’s match against Falkirk.

Celtic said they would “ensure further discussions are held with the SFA” as they “will seek to understand the rationale for this and other decisions”.

O’Neill, who insisted after the match that he “didn’t see” how the red card could be, said on Wednesday: “It was good to have the support of a lot of the referees who have officiated big, big games when they were interviewed afterwards.”

“I never had a problem with this in my first stint here 25 years ago – I didn’t expect any decisions to come our way!” The 73-year-old joked when asked about the standard of refereeing in Scotland.

“I have a lot of paranoia about me. I’m seeing a psychiatrist at the moment. I’m totally fine… but he’s not.”

O’Neill, who is in temporary charge for a second term this season, admitted that Celtic “clearly need to strengthen the squad” before the winter transfer window closes.

“This is what we are trying to do. I don’t know if we will have anyone before the weekend, but we are making hard efforts,” he added.

“I think we can do something, the days are stressful but I’m optimistic. I’m reasonably confident we can do it.

“If we qualify for the Europa League, there are at least two games to go, and you need the right team for that.

“We’re trying to get as much quality as we can. A lot of names have been thrown around – a lot of people I’ve been interested in, and one or two have been turned down. But we’re working on it.”