KASPER SCHMEICHEL has backed the Celtic powerbrokers to come up with the answers as the fans question their ambition.
Chief executive Michael Nicholson has remained silent following the tirade from angry supporters in the scoreless stalemate against Kairat Almaty in the first leg of the Champions League play-off at Parkhead in midweek.
The draw leaves the Hoops with a hazardous second game in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, but the legendary 38-year-old Danish international keeper insists he can cope with the pressure.
As he prepared to face Livingston in the east end of Glasgow this afternoon, Schmeichel said: “The club has been so successful for so many years.
CELTIC VIEWS…Kasper Schmeichel meets the press. Image courtesy Celtic TV.
“We’re not dealing with people who don’t know what they’re doing. I completely understand fans’ frustration.
“I’m a football fan myself and I want success and I want all these things instantly.
“But football is complicated and it’s not just about going and ringing a player’s agent and saying we want him and then it’s done.
“It’s a complicated process and sometimes it takes time. I’m more than confident with the people who are in charge of that and know what they’re doing.
“I think you’ve just got to look at the club’s track record.
“There’s a reason we’ve been champions four times now in a row and I don’t know how many times over the last 15 years.
“It’s because the club does know what they’re doing.”
The Hoops, in fact, are going for their fourteenth crown in 15 during a phenomenal period of domination in the 21st Century.
Accepting that a defeat is a disaster and a draw is a catastrophe at the champions, Schmeichel, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “I think that’s great.
BRING IT ON…Kasper Schmeichel is ready for the Champions League challenge in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
“I can only speak for myself, I love that. I love the fact that that’s the expectation here.
“Again, the reason why this club has been so successful for such a long period of time is because the expectation is there and the quality is there.
“You see how the fans, they bring us forward with that expectation and as players, you can either choose to let that get on top of you or it can inspire you.
“And I think when you play for Celtic, I can only be inspired by that.”
Quizzed on suggestions his former Leicester City team-mate Jamie Vardy, who will be 39 in January, is keen to join him and ex-boss Brendan Rodgers in Glasgow, Schmeichel added: “He is an incredible striker who I think would make any team better.
“But I haven’t spoken to him about it, no.
“I don’t really know what his thoughts would be or the club’s thoughts would be.
“But I can only say when I played with him at Leicester, Jamie was an incredible guy and an incredible striker.”
