No fans has affected Celtic and Scott Brown MORE than Rangers claims ex-Parkhead ace

Ex-Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner has claimed that the lack of fans in ground has had a detrimental impact on his former club, more than any of their rivals.

Pat Bonner reckons the lack of fans has impacted Celtic more than rivals. Picture: SNS

Celtic have dropped out of Europe after the 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague on Thursday night and are 11 points behind Rangers in the league, albeit with two games in hand.

Bonner reckons that the team have missed the “special" atmosphere at Parkhead, especially on European nights.

“I’ve been in games on European nights and it is a special occasion," he told the BBC. “This group of Celtic players have been used to such an unbelievable passionate crowd behind them, year after year after year.

“If you take the foreign players when they come in, they all talk about the atmosphere at Celtic Park.

“There's not been a situation where even when they’ve had defeats in Europe, that the fans have turned on them, they haven’t done that.

"Those players have been used to that now and I think they are struggling that they don’t have those fans behind them.”

Bonner pinpointed the case of captain Scott Brown as a principle example of how no home supporters at Parkhead has caused a drop in standards.

“Scott Brown’s performance is down this season and Neil Lennon has taken him out of the team," he said.

“Scott Brown lives being in front of those Celtic fans, he absolutely adores it, he swaggers around and he responds to that environment especially when you’re winning. And that winning situation in Celtic Park has given him something extra.

"This year it is not there and that is one reason why I think he has maybe gone down ten or maybe 15 per cent in performance.”

Rangers have not lost at Ibrox this season, the 2-2 draw with Benfica on Thursday in the Europa League the first time they have not won in Govan.

Bonner reckons that a lack of supporters has aided Steven Gerrard’s men.

Bonner said: “We've had this argument and I’ve listened to it from a point of view that it has maybe actually helped Rangers from a perspective that they didn't have fans.

“Seriously, these players have responded better without the fans.”