Celtic chief Peter Lawwell has took aim at 'over the top' fan criticism on social media - and claimed the board are NOT asleep at the wheel.

The Hoops executive was part of the club panel at their virtual AGM and fielded questions regarding the management team following their poor start to the season where they sit 13 points behind rivals Rangers. Supporters and shareholders have claimed the Celtic board adopted the 'cheap' option in offering manager Neil Lennon the position as manager and have failed to invest properly into the squad as they aim to win their tenth league title in a row.

Sections of the support also recently sniped at the board's decision to back the boss despite being far behind Gers. But Lawwell hit back at what he described as OTT comments on social media and he insists nobody at the club has given up on winning the league this season. He claims, on the contrary, that the money-men invested heavily into recruitment.

"I can fully understand it," the chief executive said on criticism from the stands. "I understand frustration, it’s been a difficult run over eight weeks I’m a Celtic supporter, I get it, we understand it. The social media world, accusations that the board is holding fans in contempt, it can get a wee bit OTT.

"The support over the summer, they were nothing short of remarkable. We [the board] have no agenda or motive.

"We haven’t given up on the league, there are circumstances that have put us in the position. We will do all we can to win the league."

On being accused of being 'asleep at the wheel', Lawwell responded: "That's not the case. We've had incredible domestic success. We strengthened the squad knowing there was going to be a challenge this year to a level we haven't done before.

"We spent £35million from July 2019. We've never spent anything like that in the past. We've strengthened and kept our best players. That's not complacency. We've invested the reserves into the team to make us stronger.

"We've a manager that's delivered with his track record. We're investing in football to take the club forward and in no way were we sitting back being complacent waiting on things happening."