A day of celebration underlined by an emphatic 5-0 victory over Dunfermline from champions opening the defence of their title should not be remembered for a chorus of jeers. Only among Celtic's divided fans could such a triumph be turned into an ordeal.
The booing on Saturday was directed at the club chairman, Fergus McCann, as he began to address the 59,220 crowd before the unfurling of the championship flag, wrested from Rangers last May after a decade of trying.
It came from those among the Parkhead support who believe that McCann has dragged his feet over the appointment of Dr Jozef Venglos to succeed Wim Jansen, which has resulted in a lack of activity in the transfer market at a time when Rangers have spent more than £20 million.
Even Craig Burley's hat-trick was not enough to stifle the anger of some Celtic fans.
Rangers' big signings were not enough against Hearts at Tynecastle last night. With a two-goal lead established after 20 minutes before conceding one before the interval, the home side, overall, were the more dangerous and more deserving of two hard-working teams.
The Hearts supporters were still buoyed by the memory of their team's last competitive outing, when they defeated Rangers in the Scottish Cup final. Even so, they could hardly have anticipated an opening period in which they scored twice and should have scored another two.
Neil McCann set up the first goal after only six minutes when he was supplied by Jim Hamilton's perfect dink from the middle and bolted for the dead-ball line. His cut-back did not seem too threatening but Rino Gattuso and Craig Moore both failed to intercept and the ball came straight to a surprised Stephane Adam, who simply rolled it past Antti Niemi from six yards.
McCann also set up the second, stretching a leg to push the ball away from Jonas Thern and straight to Jim Hamilton. The big forward drilled his left-foot shot past Niemi from 10 yards.
Good fortune then allowed Rangers back into the game. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, on the edge of the penalty area, completely miskicked when attempting to shoot and the ball ran straight to Rod Wallace, who beat Gilles Rousset from close range with a low, right-foot drive.
Hearts: Rousset, Naysmith, Weir, Salvatori, Ritchie, McCann, Fulton, Adam (Murray 86), Hamilton, Locke, Flogel. Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Quitongo, Holmes, Milne. Booked: Adam, Fulton. Goals: Adam 6, Hamilton 20.
Rangers: Niemi, Porrini, Numan, Van Bronckhorst (Amato 65), Durie, Albertz, Thern (Kanchelskis 46), Ferguson, Wallace, Gattuso, Moore. Subs Not Used: Vidmar, Nicholson, Brown. Booked: Durie, Moore, Ferguson. Goals: Wallace 28.
Referee: H Dallas (Motherwell).
