Celtic hero Paul Lambert believes Hoops stars need 'real big cojones' to deal with their Champions League disaster, and has urged that under-fire midfielder Luke McCowan is not used as a scapegoat for their stunning collapse in Austria.
The Scottish champions were heavily criticised after a disastrous defeat to LASK, where they threw away a four-goal lead in the tie and went out 5-1 after extra time, blowing an estimated £25 million windfall.
McCowan immediately deleted his social media accounts after a barrage of criticism following his performance in Austria.
Lambert backs McCowan
Champions League winner Lambert, speaking on behalf of the Hand of Hope campaign raising £100K from a football art auction, believes the entire Celtic team need to stand up and be counted.
He said: "There are two ways to look at Luke's situation. Firstly, don't do social media in the first place - you don't need it, he has done the right thing. And secondly, when you play for Celtic you need to have real big cajones. You have to take the ball anywhere in that pitch, it doesn't matter if you're having a bad game. Luke McCowan is an easy scapegoat. The boy never meant to lose the ball and I think it's too easy here to say he was the only one at fault."
"If you look at the goals Celtic lost, he wasn't involved in some of them. And the one where he lost the ball at the edge of the box, he had nobody to pass to, so he had to try and run it. He could have played it long, but there were no angles for him and he tried to run it out. But my advice to him is if you are a footballer and you don't want to be criticised, then stay off social media."
Warning signs were there
Lambert, who won 40 caps for Scotland and managed Aston Villa, admitted he was still in shock that Celtic lost their lead.
He said: "They shouldn't have lost the game from the position they were in, but the warning signs were there. LASK had 60 attempts at goal over the two games which indicates Celtic weren't running, tackling or doing the ugly side of the game to win matches. If you give up as many attempts as Celtic did, something has gone badly wrong."
The former Borussia Dortmund ace knows how much the setback will impact his former boss Martin O'Neill, and warned the Celtic players they will get no time to feel sorry for themselves.
Players must take responsibility
He said: "The manager took the blame, he is trying to relieve the pressure on them, but Martin will be hurt by it because he's a winner. The players made the decisions on the pitch. Players are great at hiding behind the manager sometimes but they need to take responsibility."
"At Celtic as soon as you win a title, you let it go and move onto the next one. Enjoy it, but the next day forget it. And it's the same with a defeat. You buy the ticket at Celtic and that's what you play for. You don't make apologies for getting criticised."
"And no disrespect to Austria, but they were up against a team from a country who are not ranked as one of the top nations in European football. That's the worrying thing and not just for Celtic - I'm talking about every team in Scotland here. When I joined Celtic, I had won the Champions League and was an international and a big player, so for me it was easy to settle in."
"All the squad back then were internationals and could handle it. And then Martin O'Neill came in and enhanced it and kicked it on and he got them to a European final. But now? I am not so sure and they need a bit more than what they are getting, especially at that level."
The Hand of Hope campaign is raising donations to fund and encourage children worldwide to paint, inspired by their sporting heroes.
