Hoops legend Frank McAvennie may have been sceptical upon Ronny Deila’s appointment as Celtic manager, but he takes no pleasure in seeing his gloomy vision being realised.

McAvennie likes Deila, but maintains that the Celtic board took the cheapest option when they chose him to take over from Neil Lennon, and are now paying a heavy price.

Despite believing that the Norwegian should now be relieved of his duties, he doesn’t however think that the Celtic hierarchy will sack him on the back of the League Cup exit to Ross County and the damaging defeat to Aberdeen on Wednesday.

He said: “In the beginning there were a few ex-players who had a go and some of it was a bit personal. I never made it personal with Ronny. I said at the time it was a cheap option and that is still the same now.

“I really do like Ronny and I want him to do well. But there’s only so many times you can come out and claim your team is progressing. Last week it was the treble, then it was the league.

“I got slaughtered for saying that 18 months ago. I don’t mean to disrespect Ronny because he is a nice guy but nice guys don’t win a lot. It’s four years since Rangers have been out of the league and they’ve not won the treble.

“Last year there was no Hearts, Hibs and Rangers so you would have thought they would have done something.

“I feel for him. It looked the other night like there was no fight in his team. There was only one side up for it and it was Aberdeen.

“Celtic are good on the ball but when you’ve lost it, you need to win it back. Aberdeen were hungry and snapping at heels. They wanted it more than Celtic. Sometimes it looks like they don’t want to get kicked. That’s two games without fight and he needs to sort that out.

“It looked like the Celtic players just want to turn up and win games. It takes more than that. Teams need points and they are willing to fight for them. Teams are going to Parkhead now and not bothering their backsides. They are not scared of going there anymore.

“But I don’t think Peter and Dermot are going to get rid of him. They would have done it by now."

One significant problem with the removal of Deila is identifying a replacement that could improve Celtic’s fortunes.

McAvennie says though that the club should act now if they are going to give themselves a chance of making next season’s Champions League, and perhaps more importantly, win back the fans who have stopped attending matches.

“That’s the thing – who are you going to bring in?” he said.

“I’m sure Peter must have thought about it. Ronny’s his boy, but if you’re going to change, make a change now. Sort the team out for the summer for the Champions League.

“Celtic are judged on the Champions League and he’s had a couple of cracks at it. Winning the league’s not good enough for the majority of the supporters.

“The majority of them aren’t even going to games – you can tell by the empty seats.

“I don’t think they’ll get rid of him, I think he’ll be there for the long haul. But play two up front and try to get some of the crowd back.

“He keeps saying we’re entertaining but the last two games weren’t entertaining. They were if you’re not a Celtic supporter. I’ve never seen so many Rangers supporters looking so happy.”