Hoops defender Erik Sviatchenko sent £1000 back to a fans’ club in the MCH arena this week as a thank you to former club FC Midtylland; but he has backed the Hoops fans to raise their voices if they are not happy with the club.

However, Sviatchenko believes that delivering a fifth successive title could be something that unifies the club this weekend and puts a smile back on the faces of supporters.

“You hope that you are always going up towards the stars, but sometimes you have to go one step back before two steps forward.

“It was a bit difficult (to see the banners) as they were a bit blurred for me. But I could see there were banners and afterwards you could read them,” he said of the messages of dsocntent on view at last week’s draw with Ross County. I would only say that we need to be united at this stage. It’s never good that the fans want to say something like this but I have respect for every opinion.

But at this stage we need to be Celtic FC. We need to rise again and go for the fifth in a row. We are so close now and we should be joyful, we should have a smile on our faces.”

Although he was also realistic to understand the frustrations of the those who follow the club.

“At the end, it is just about expectations. People knows the club can do better and sometimes it is about the result, but also the performances.

“If the performances are not well, sometimes it isn’t good enough just to win the games.Y ou have to win beautifully. I am a man who believes every victory is important and you have to cherish those things. I respect that sometimes we need to be even better and I am a man who wants to develop all of the time and the club wants to be even better at this stage.

“For everyone at Celtic, the fans and the players, to be around when we win a fifth title in a row, it is unbelievable.

“That is something we need to take into the next season and say: We are a bunch of winners.

“That should be the DNA of Celtic and it is.”

And he also explained why he wanted to hand money back to the supporters of his former club.

I just donated £1,000 for my former clubs’ fans. I’d been there for a decade,” he said. “Because of the circumstances of me changing club, it’s only now that they got the money. It meant a lot to be to give something back because they’ve always been behind me and we’ve cherished a good relationship with each other.

“It’s up to the fans what they do with the money. I didn’t say anything in terms of how it should be. I just wanted to give them the opportunity to do something nice, whether it’s for one game or the next season or maybe for a trip for a group of fans. I just wanted to tell them I am thankful.”