'Absolute disgrace' - Treatment of Hearts man slammed by former Jambos player
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Former Hearts player Michael Stewart has labelled the chants towards Lawrence Shankland in Brugge last week from a section of the away supporters as an ‘absolute disgrace’. The striker missed a penalty in the Europa Conference League clash.
The Scotland international has seen his goals dry up this season. He is out of contract at the end of the campaign and is due to become a free agent.
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Hide AdShankland, who is 29-years-old, has been with Hearts since the summer of 2022. He has since scored 60 goals in 115 games, only one of which have come this term.
When asked on The Scottish Football Social Club podcast, what he thought about the treatment of the player from some fans, Stewart said: “An absolute disgrace. See watching yesterday (Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen), it was the first time it started to creep into his performance. There was a few balls miscontrolled, he was stretching for things.
“To me, you can put that right at the door of those punters that are shouting abuse at him. I just think it’s absolutely outrageous that Lawrence Shankland, almost exclusively, is the guy who has taken Hearts to where they are. And if you think of the money generated because of that, you’re talking about multiple millions that he’s generated for the club.
“He’s not deliberately missing penalties, he’s not deliberately not scoring goals because whether he stays at Hearts or leaves, the potential for bigger moves is dependant on him performing! So it’s affecting himself.
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Hide Ad“It’s a section of the support, but over in Belgium, there was an atmosphere and it wasn’t a nice atmosphere. There was a pocket of the support who really need to have a look at themselves. There was a toxic atmosphere.”
Regarding Shankland’s future, he said: “Do you know what, I think it is nigh on impossible to call what is going to happen because there is just too many variables between now and the end of the season.
“But the one thing I would say for certain is that all of this has only gone to highlight even more the ludicrous position Hearts have allowed themselves to be in now, having not brought never mind one but two strikers in in the summer.
“If Lawrence Shankland was to hypothetically leave at the end of the season, you can’t just bring one in, they need another, maybe two others You’re looking at, if Shankland leaves this summer, Hearts are maybe going to have to look at signing two or three strikers, which is crazy.”
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Hide AdNeil Critchley will hope to get the best out of Shankland over the coming weeks as Hearts look to rise from the foot of the Scottish Premiership table. They drew 1-1 with Aberdeen last time out.
The Jambos are back in action this weekend with a home clash against Dundee as they look to return to winning ways. They then head to Denmark next Thursday for a European away trip to FC Copenhagen as they aim to bounce back from their defeat to Cercle Brugge.
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