The game ended 2-1 and Hartson defined the post-game scene in the locker room.
“After the game, all the boys are delighted,” he continued. “We’re in the Scottish Cup final. A really tough game. It was windy and the pitch wasn’t very good.
“I’m just sitting there like a spoiled child, still angry that I got out, you understand? It’s all, ‘well done guys, great final and everything’. We’re in a final, something to look forward to.” at the end of Could.
“Martin said, ‘John,’ the room just went silent. ‘What’s wrong with you’? And I said, ‘look,’ I said, ‘why did you bring me?’ from time to time,” he said, “you have to run a little bit and in the 72nd minute, John, you just weren’t moving, so I took you off.”
O’Neill worker John Robertson was often in similar proximity.
“Martin came towards me and I stood up,” Hartson recalled. “There was never, ever going to be a reaction from me, a physical reaction. He told John not to stop him, Martin says that, but from my point of view, nothing was going to happen.
“I got up just to, pretty much, you know, dominate it. There used to be a way of, because of that, the whole night became dull. I ruined the night. Standard, by being completely like a spoiled brat.
“And now I always feel like the coaches, even though I played for a lot of coaches, I always feel like the coach is always right. Whatever decision the coach makes. Looking back, I think I was right.”
