CELTIC captain Scott Brown has revealed Aleksander Tonav was devastated after his racism appeal was rejected.

The Bulgarian saw his bid to overturn a seven-game ban handed out by the SFA thrown out during the week, with him having already served one of his match suspensions.

Tonev has maintained his innocence despite him being found guilty of racially abusing Aberdeen defender Shay Logan.

After Celtic released a statement earlier in the week backing the midfielder, manager Ronny Deila has revealed the on-loan Aston Villa player will remain at the club for the rest of the season amid speculation his deal may be cut short.

And skipper Brown has reinforced that view by stating the squad will rally round him.

He said: "He's been fine. He was a wee bit devastated with the news that he was getting the ban, but when it's one versus one, what can you say?

"At the end of the day, he's got the ban and he'll have to continue training. He's been fine in training, looking sharp and will be a miss in games.

"Everybody feels for him that he's going to be out for six matches. It's hard because he wants to play in games and he was just beginning to get a run.

"Now he's going to miss out until halfway through January, so it's a hard one for him to take. He'll enjoy getting sharper in training."

Celtic travel to Tannadice tomorrow to take on a Dundee United side they dismantled 6-1 at Parkhead in Ronny Deila's first game in charge at Parkhead.

Brown was out injured for that fixture, but said: "The game at our place was the best performance we've produced from start to finish.

"We could have scored eight, nine, 10 goals as we created that many chances.

"It will be a different game tomorrow - it's always more of a battle at Tannadice in the first 15 minutes.

"Jackie [McNamara] and Simon [Donnelly] have got them playing really good football. They get the ball down and try and play.

"I'm not too sure what the pitch is going to be like - hopefully good - as both teams like to play football.

"I think that showed at Celtic Park in the last game."

Brown is also well aware of the threat third-placed United will pose.

He said: "If you look around their squad they've got some great players - some talented young ones as well.

"Armstrong is a great player, Mackay-Steven and Ciftci up front as well.

"They always create chances, but it's all about us on the day. If we turn up and play well, we should have too much for any team."

"I think over the whole season, we will prove that."