NEIL LENNON has claimed that some Celtic stars refused to play for him despite being fully fit.

The former Hoops boss departed the club in February after the Parkhead outfit failed in their bid to land 10-in-a-row.

And now Lennon has claimed that some wantaway stars dragged the rest of the team down as they were romped to the title by Steven Gerrard's Rangers.

He told The Sun: “We’d won nine titles in a row — four Trebles — and some players just got to the end of the road.

“You could see it pre-season, the body language, they weren’t with us. You could smell it.

"Some players were, I wouldn’t say feigning injury, but they could have played and didn’t.

“This eats into the dressing room."

He continued: "You’ve got great pros like Scott Brown and Callum McGregor, unbelievably successful, being dragged down by guys who don’t want to be there.

“Before lockdown, we’d been rampant, we’d won at Lazio.

"But after three months of players going home, the environment changed. Players found it difficult to adjust.

“But Juventus didn’t win the league, PSG didn’t, Real and Barcelona didn’t, Liverpool won the league by 20 points, then lost six in a row at home.

"It was unprecedented and we were the same.

“Did I want to leave? Not really. But you want to do what’s best for the club, especially with what Celtic means to me.

“I won five out of seven trophies the second time, though, and Steven Gerrard has won one out of nine.

“People think it’s easy coming up here but you have to win every week — a draw isn’t good enough.”