Chris Sutton has accused Celtic assistant manager John Kennedy of "running for the hills" amid his old club's nightmare run of form.
The former defender is assistant to under-pressure manager Neil Lennon, who has overseen a run of just two wins in 10 games.
The Parkhead board are sticking by their man ahead of Thursday's Europa League trip to face Milan but fan protests have raised the tension.
And Sutton believes that Kennedy and coach Gavin Strachan haven't done enough to take the pressure off Lennon.
Speaking on the Record Celtic podcast he said: "I do have the utmost sympathy for Neil.
"Something which I've noticed and I think other people have talked about is he does seem very, very lonely at this moment in time when he's standing in the technical area.
"I think I've always associated his good spells in management - and there have been ups and downs - he's always had a team with him.
"He's always had a closeness with an assistant and I don't think that he's necessarily being helped at this moment in time enough by John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan.
"They seem to want to be aloof and distance themselves when they should be standing right up alongside him.
"I think that's been an issue for a while.
"I don't know the situation with regards to appointments but I do know that when the likes of Johan Mjallby was alongside Neil, Johan Mjallby would tell Neil what he actually thought and what he should be doing.
"He's a friend of Neil's, he has Neil's best interests at heart.
"Now I'm not suggesting that John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan don't but I do think it's been very, very noticeable that Neil seems to be carrying this burden on his own.
"I know people will be saying, 'well John Kennedy's a defensive coach and Gavin Strachan is a coach and the manager is responsible for everything'.
"But what I would would want to have seen is to see them be visible, whatever it is to show him more support than they have done.
"They seem to be running for the hills."
