Paul Lambert reckons some of Neil Lennon's old pals have hung the Celtic manager out to dry with public comments urging the board to sack him.

Lennon's Hoops are 20 points behind rivals Rangers and Lambert admits the form is not good enough. But he has read and watched plenty of coverage of ex-Hoops stars and teammates of Lennon suggesting he should walk away or be relieved of his duties.

And the former midfielder has not been impressed. He pointed at Gers and claimed players of the past would never have slaughtered Ally McCoist, for example, the way Lennon has been treated. Even when the Light Blues were not near their best.

But Lambert has still been disappointed with the outcry from people who he claims should know better - and he even revealed he let one know exactly what he thought of them. On public demands for Lennon's sacking, Lambert told the Daily Record: "I’ve found that particularly disappointing. 

"I’m not expecting everyone to be a Neil Lennon cheerleader and absolve him from all blame. Not at all. And I don’t think Neil would expect that of anyone. When Ally McCoist was struggling as Rangers manager did you see his former team-mates lining up to have a pop? Absolutely not.

“Could you imagine the likes of Ian Durrant, Ian Ferguson or John Brown saying Ally should have been sacked a few years ago? It would never happen.

“Had the shoe been on the other foot this season and Steven Gerrard had gone a third successive season without silverware I’m still not sure those guys I’ve named, who didn’t even share a dressing room with Steven, would have called for him to be sacked.

”I should make it clear here that I’m not having a go at the many former Celtic players who work in the media and have enough skin in the game to call it as they see it. There are many who I totally respect and I would consider them fair and balanced.

“Maybe I’m blinkered, maybe I’m in the wrong for thinking if you have nothing nice to say about a friend then don’t say anything at all. But I just don’t think you need to call for a former teammate to be sacked.

“I’m not going to name names, but I did call one up the other night and told him he was a disgrace. He couldn’t wait to get out of Celtic when the chance to move to England came about. I reminded him of that. I reminded of how much help Lenny gave him both on and off the park.”