To say that Celtic have broken Hearts would be a serious understatement.

Even with a new coach and several new players on the pitch, you can’t change the supporters, and it proved to be the case on Sunday.

Celtic thrashed Hearts 7-1, with Martin O’Neill’s side producing a demolition job of the highest order against a team that is supposed to be title rivals.

It was a rather rapid start from the champions of Scotland, including two goals inside ten minutes from Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren – that’s when the home fans let those in the away end know that they are simply ‘falling apart, AGAIN!’

Celtic's victory against Hearts may not be one of their biggest in SPFL history but it comes close. Where does that performance rank compared to their highest-scoring wins?

Since Hearts were a title rival last season, that's got to make it one of the best :thinking_face:

‘Hearts are falling apart again…’

After Celtic’s abject defeat to Benfica on Thursday evening in the Europa League, the team made sure they weren’t hungover or feeling sorry for themselves from that trip to Lisbon.

The players produced on the field of play, and the fans backed it up in the stands and were as vocal as they have been this season.

Everyone is aware of the disconnect between Celtic fans and the board, but it wasn’t on display or heard against Hearts.

Instead, Celtic fans turned their attention to their utterly broken so-called title rivals from Edinburgh, as it could be heard loud and clear after 2-0: ‘Hearts, Hearts, Hearts are falling apart again.’

“Celtic have turned it on, and that has got the supporters more interested,” noted Ian Crocker on commentary as the Celtic Park faithful were in full voice. 

Déjà vu. History has repeated itself. When Celtic beat Hearts to the title last season, the players didn’t even bother getting dressed after the full-time whistle.

Instead, with their kits still on, shin pads and all, they headed back to Tynecastle crying and completely broken.

When the scoreline read 5-1 at the break in this recent fixture, it proved to be too much for the few thousand Hearts supporters who were in attendance.

As you can see from Sky Sports’ footage, in the 39th minute, some of them were heading for the exit door, and it wouldn’t have been a surprise if many more followed suit.

Either way, it will be interesting what happens to Hearts in the coming months, because as much as this could be uplifting for Celtic, it could be equally as damaging for the Scottish League Cup semi-finalists.