Jackie McNamara has questioned whether Celtic 's high-profile summer arrivals are good enough to play for the club.
The likes of Shane Duffy, Albian Ajeti and Moi Elyounoussi have all been brought in to much acclaim from the English Premier League but have struggled to adapt to the Scottish game.
Ajeti's goals have dried up after a strong start while Duffy, who was seen as a defensive coup when he arrived on loan from Brighton, has garnered plenty of criticism.
Each of the trio were out of favour at their parent clubs when they were allowed to join Celtic, and McNamara feels the Hoops are now paying the price for settling for English football cast-offs.
“You’re paying a fortune for Duffy to come up here on loan. Nir Bitton ’s a sitting midfielder – how’s he playing in front of him?" McNamara said on the 67 Hail Hail podcast.
“Duffy’s an international football player for Ireland.
“There are so many things that aren’t quite right in the team. If you’re going to change the manager, I’d want somebody that’s on the way up. Same with the players.
“Barkas, yes, you’d argue he was on the way up. But the likes of Duffy, he’s not been good enough for Brighton and they’ve wanted him out.
“Ajeti at West Ham, Elyounoussi at Southampton. There’s three players who have not been deemed good enough at three teams in England.
“So, how are they good enough for Celtic at the moment? We need players who are on the way up.
“And if you’re going to change the manager, you’d want someone on the way up as well. New ideas, freshness.”
Manager Neil Lennon, a former team-mate of McNamara's, has come under fire for the Hoops' form recently as they have fallen to 11 points behind leaders Rangers.
And the former right-back feels it's now time for the club to make a decision - either stick or twist.
“You have to have one or the other. You either back him and say ‘This is the man we believe in, he’s going to take the club and get the 10-in-a-row.’
“Or, it goes the other way.
“Just now there’s so much uncertainty.
“There’s no point changing it unless you’ve got someone better than what they’ve got there.
“It does seem there’s a lot of people wanting change, wanting Neil out. A lot of people didn’t want Neil at the start, even though he was doing well.
“For Neil, it’s survival mode at the moment."
