Hey There You With The Sad Face- the truth about the ‘just spoke to Joe Hart’ claim from David Tanner

A nightmare ending to the season was completed for David Tanner at Hampden as he ‘interviewed’ Joe Hart following Celtic’s victory in the final of the Scottish Cup. Piggy-back style.

Seven years on from being released by Sky Sports the downward trajectory in Tanner’s career is almost exact opposite to the trophy haul of Celtic, yesterday’s success took it to 19 out of the last 24 domestic trophies being lifted by Scott Brown or Callum McGregor.

Jonathan Sutherland, Steven Thompson and Emma Dodds were selected for the prime broadcasting slots at Hampden, picking up on the leftovers Tanner was joined by Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd on a hospitality gig for wealthy bears. Mark Benstead hosted the Celtic equivalent alongside Aiden McGeady and Simon Donnelly.

After declaring at the end of February that ‘only Rangers can stop Rangers’ the former Sky Sports anchor man watched Celtic power through to lift the SPFL title by eight points, when the trophy was being presented last week at Celtic Park Tanner’s journalistic skills were at Tynecastle enjoying Shushburgers.

Hampden offered the consolation of a cup double, something to cling onto through the summer as Phil Clement tries to build a title winning side on a shoestring budget based around a Brazilian defender from Cyprus and a goalkeeper from Motherwell. There could also be a defender from Panama playing in Bulgaria.

After surviving to half time at Hampden thanks to John Beaton deciding to overlook a 23rd minute handball from Ben Davies the second half started promisingly for Tanner and the bears in hospitality.

The long wait for a meaningful win over Celtic looked to be over when Abdallah Sima bundled the ball into the net from a James Tavernier corner, unfortunately the push from Nicky Raskin on Joe Hart was too much for Beaton to ignore.

Clement’s side had the bulk of the pressure and possession in the last half hour but were fairly clueless in the final third, as the match headed towards extra-time all of Tanner’s nightmares came true as Jack Butland fumbled a shot from Paulo Bernardo into the path of Adam Idah as a familiar script was revived.

Discussing the match with the victorious Ibrox squad in the Mixed Zone was kicked into touch. No small talk and matey banter with captain James Tavernier, no easy content with Todd Cantwell about the launch pad to next season’s SPFL title bid or chit chat with Butland about reviving his international career.

Instead he’d need to get some soundbites from Celtic for TalkSPORT, some more quotes from Callum McGregor, goal hero Idah and Hart should do ahead of a long miserable summer.

On Twitter it appeared that Tanner had an in depth interview with the retiring Celtic goalkeeper, the truth, as the tweet above shows is that he was piggy-backing onto the questions posed by other broadcasters while nursing his wounds, putting on the bravest of professional faces.

Hopefully the former Sky Sports and STV star will be retained by TalkSPORT next season, his half hearted attempts at impartiality adds greatly to the character of the season alongside Miller, Boyd, Barry Ferguson, Kenny Macintyre, Ally McCoist and others suffering through a nightmare period of domination from Scotland’s most successful club.