CHRIS SUTTON has revealed a stormy encounter with Neil Lennon after he had criticised the former Celtic boss on BT Sport.

The altercation came after Sutton slated the at-the-time Hoops boss as his team slumped and lost out on 10-in-a-row to Rangers.

The pair had been close during their time as players, and this resulted in Lennon taking serious offence.

Speaking on BT Sports’ Currie Club podcast, Sutton revealed: “It wasn’t difficult. You can only say what is in front of you but there’s always that nagging feeling in the stomach.

“Neil was a great mate of mine. We played together for four years at Celtic, I used to sit next to him in the dressing room. My wife chats to Neil’s wife.

“For example, when my son James was born at 28 weeks, Neil came in the next morning to visit my wife and little James, who wasn’t well. He showed great support in that particular time.

“We used to go out together as team-mates, as a lot of us did. That particular team was a band of brothers. I’ve spoken to Neil about this. Neil was a broadcaster as well and a really good broadcaster. I think he understands the game in that respect. He will be critical of managers and players.

“He wasn’t happy with me and he made that very clear. We walked down after the match and had to leave through a certain exit due to Covid and as we were walking down, Neil had turned the corner to walk up...I said, ‘alright Neil?’ and he said nothing...

“From Neil’s point of view, I totally got that because of the pressure. He was the Celtic manager and those Covid times were an absolute nightmare to manage in, because of the way the crowd can really lift the team and (not having that) was really difficult for him.

“But the performances at that particular time weren’t there. Now time has healed things a little bit and everybody realises what a brilliant servant he was. He might look back in years to come and think that actually I was right. But knowing Neil....”