Celtic fans made their thoughts known outside the ground following a succession of poor results
Paul Lambert has criticised Celtic fans who protested outside the ground following a run of poor results.
Supporters called for Neil Lennon to leave after his side were knocked out of the Betfred Cup by Ross County. Protests continued as Rangers opened up a 16-point gap in the title race, with Lennon also having overseen heavy defeats that resulted in Celtic finishing bottom of their Europa League group.
There has been improvement in recent weeks, with Saturday’s 3-0 win over Hamilton Accies their third successive Premiership victory, and former Celtic midfielder Lambert believes the protests were excessive.
Speaking on the Celtic Huddle podcast, Lambert said: “What I saw in these scenes wasn’t real Celtic fans.
“I’ve never ever seen them doing that. I spoke to Lenny the other week there and I asked him how he was, and the disappointment was the reaction of the fans after a couple of games where they haven’t been winning.
“Everybody is entitled to lose games. That can happen at any time, and I think that’s when they needed the support.
“To be fair to the board they got behind him and I think that’s important that they showed him support.
“I mean they’ve won 12 trophies on the spin. That’s an incredible record to achieve no matter what way you want to look at it, and hopefully it’s not over, but they have to go to Ibrox and win.”
Lambert, who made 273 appearances and won four league titles in his time at the club, is currently manager of English League One side Ipswich Town.
Celtic aim to make it four league wins on the bounce when they host Dundee United on Wednesday night. That match is followed on Saturday by the crucial showdown with Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
