Ex-Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon says his former club’s failure to replace the “Invincibles” that won the title in 2017 has been the main reason why the Hoops have failed to perform this campaign.

Neil Lennon‘s side are 20 points behind league leaders Rangers after 25 games, with the Scottish champions’ prospects of securing their tenth league title in a row now a distant hope. Gordon feels the club did not replace the players they needed to over the last four seasons:

“I think it’s been a gradual thing. The team that was Invincible under [Brendan] Rodgers has been eroded away. There’s only a few guys left. The guys that are still there have aged four or five years since then and it’s been something that’s been coming.”

“Players needed to have been brought in earlier to realise what the club was all about to then step into the shoes of these players. It’s something that has been coming and I think the players and the more senior guys in there would probably have realised that.”

Gordon hits the nail on the head when it comes to recruitment. Simply put, the players who have arrived at the club in recent years have not been good enough for a team who has ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League group stages.

The likes of chief executive Peter Lawwell and Head of Football Operations Nick Hammond must take their fair share of responsibility for this.

It will be interesting to see whether Hammand and Lennon do follow Lawwell out of the door in the summer.