It almost sounds now as if our season has been s**t- Starfelt tackles Celtic’s critics head on

Carl Starfelt has revealed how the Celtic squad insulated themselves from the media criticism of going three matches without a win.

A run of 31 wins, two draws and a single defeat delivered the SPFL title at Tynecastle but losing a dead rubber transferred the bragging rights across the city according to Sky Sports.

That message was quickly taken up by failed managers like Kenny Miller and Ally McCoist as they speculated over how close the two sides are after the Michael Beale Trophy went to Ibrox alongside the usual promises of a better tomorrow.

The hysteria peaked after Celtic lost 4-2 away to Hibs with some pundits starting to gain hope that Inverness Caley Thistle could deny Celtic a treble.

A 5-0 win over Aberdeen put that panic in context with Starfelt telling The Scotsman how Celtic treat their critics:

We touch on that within the group, to keep everything within the group and not be disturbed by noise…what fans think or what the media think, or says.

To really listen to each other in here, listen to the manager and the other players, and maybe your family and people who really care about you. Other than that, you don’t need to listen to anyone. All the players in the team know their potential as footballers.

It is obviously not very easy at a club like Celtic; it can be a lot. But the thing is if you manage to do it you can get better from it as well. Become psychologically stronger through staying strong in adversity, in these situations. But it almost sounds now as if our season has been s**t.

On Saturday Celtic can ‘salvage’ something from a s**t season by lifting the Scottish Cup in front of 45,000 of their own fans at Hampden.