Joe Hart reveals worrying Celtic Park feeling that concerns him more than supporter anger

Celtic’s domestic form has faltered in recent weeks, with a draw against Dundee United followed by defeat to Falkirk raising concerns among supporters about the direction of the club.

Despite remaining top of the Scottish Premiership, questions have intensified over O’Neill’s side, while frustration towards the Celtic board continues to grow.

However, Hart insists the criticism does not diminish O’Neill’s standing among supporters, explaining that the demands of managing Celtic mean anything short of domestic dominance and European competitiveness will inevitably attract scrutiny.

Speaking on The Overlap, Hart said: “It’s flak with love, and that doesn’t make any sense. Of course, we know it doesn’t make any sense, but Martin O’Neill will be, and is, absolutely adored. But he knows what he signed up for as a Celtic manager, and he would expect to be getting a lot of questions asked about him.

“And that’s not saying he’s not up to the task or he’s not the man for the job, but that’s what comes with the territory. If you really understand Celtic, you understand that if you’re not borderline perfect domestically and challenging in Europe, you’re going to get it.

“You’re going to get it because they care and they’re intelligent football fans. And, there’s a massive disharmony with the board. The fans really don’t understand what the direction of the club is. And obviously the board have got their opinions in terms of the success that they had and continue to have.

“So, it is difficult. That was really shining brightly mid-season last season, but then Martin came back in and the team started to win and it goes away. It’s amazing what winning can do, and at the moment they’re not.

“They had a difficult result at Falkirk. I think they drew at home to Dundee United. And then this Besiktas game felt ominous. It felt like there was going to be a riot, or not even a riot. Do you know what the worst feeling you can have in a stadium is? And I very rarely felt it up there. It wasn’t anger, it was people going, ‘Pfft, we lost again.’ That is the worst feeling you could have.

“You’d rather have someone that impassioned, that embroiled as a Celtic fan. Like I say, domestically, I lost very, very few games, but no matter what run you’d been on, you could feel it. It wasn’t the majority, but you’d feel some people’s whole life and whole livelihood is proudly Celtic.

“And if you don’t perform in that shirt, you’re going to get it. I’ve still got friends up there, and they were flat going into the game. If Celtic had lost, they wouldn’t have been angry, they’d have been like, ‘Oh, God.’ And that’s not a nice feeling. I talked about it for Michael [Carrick], but I think it’s a little bit different up there, because they’re still top of the league.

“If they can take the atmosphere that they generated towards the end of the game last night into the league game this weekend, I think it’s Kilmarnock, then it could be a massive spark to go again.”