Peter Lawwell faces dangerous Celtic moments from malcontents who bristle at the mention of entitlement – Keith Jackson

Perhaps now would be a good time for a bit of perspective where Celtic and their simmering support is concerned.

A lamentable weekend became a little bit more insufferable on Sunday when their nearest and dearest picked up the first silverware of the domestic season at Hampden and the sight of those celebrations will have done nothing to lighten the current mood in the east end of the city. It’s not quite full-blown panic stations in the car park yet. But it’s not all that far off either.

The spontaneous eruption of anger and toxicity after Hearts took an unassailable two-goal lead at Parkhead on Saturday was actually quite staggering, given that Celtic remain perched at the top of the league table regardless.

The gap may be closing more rapidly than these fans are prepared to tolerate but even so, the levels of vitriol will have sent a shiver down the spine of chairman Peter Lawwell who has been in this movie before. And who had to leave out the back door with a blanket over his head as the quest for 10 successive titles collapsed among furious rancour.

‘When the herd moves’ is how someone once put it, after having to give up a No.10 of his own. But not even BoJo was hounded out with the kind of hostility that confronted Lawwell before he stepped down as chief executive in 2021. So these feel like familiar and dangerous moments for the man who returned to the helm less than a year ago.

A section of the club’s supporters didn’t want him back and that militant cohort felt much the same way about Brendan Rodgers when he was brought back as Ange Postecoglou’s successor in the summer.

These malcontents bristle at the very mention of the word ‘entitlement’ but it’s difficult to see them in any other light, at least not when