TOM BOYD is among that rare breed: a former Celtic footballer who doesn’t appear to take great delight in kicking lumps out of the club.

Regular bashings from ex-pros who wore the green and white are handed out with all the dexterity of a UFC cage fighter. If it’s not Chris Sutton bludgeoning Ronny Deila following another poor Celtic performance on BT Sport, it’s Frank McAvennie throwing verbal punches in the direction of the Norwegian on Twitter and that’s before one even mentions what the supporters think.

Granted Boyd, the former captain and a three-time league winner, was never likely to use his unveiling as club ambassador as an opportunity to lay into the beleaguered Celtic manager but he did offer a rational explanation, appealing to fans for clemency as Deila’s side embarks on a run-in which could yet yield a league and cup double.

Deila has presided over two defeats and a victory in the last three games and even the win has brought cause for consternation among pundits and supporters alike. The net result has been a League Cup semi-final exit at the hands of Ross County, the conceding of ground to Aberdeen in the title race, an unfulfilling win over minnows East Kilbride in the Scottish Cup and much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Boyd, though, believes that “hysteria” has replaced a considered evaluation of the facts and wonders aloud whether the criticism of Deila is unprecedented given Celtic’s position at the head of the table vis-à-vis the dark days of the early 1990s.

“I have never known it in Scottish football. You can enlighten me if I’m wrong. Has there been this same level of criticism of a manager at the top of the league before?” pondered Boyd as he joined former manager and player David Hay in being named a club ambassador alongside current incumbent Billy McNeill.

“People should go back and look at the videos away back in the 1990s. The year we were at Hampden and had 11 games and drew 10 of them. There was a period then which would constitute a crisis now. That was the longest period we had gone without a home win. At the time when Fergus [McCann] had just taken over with the players we had at our disposal then.

“You only have to go back to the days when I first came to this football club and we couldn’t even finish in second place. We don’t have a divine right to win every game; to win every league.”

Boyd understands that Celtic have been less consistent this term and has a good idea why. The champions may find themselves just three points worse off than at the same stage as last season but the defence has conceded 21 goals so far, four more than during the entire 2014-2015 campaign. It is a statistic not lost on Boyd.

“Not much has changed since this time last season in terms of points. Maybe defensively, Celtic haven’t been as good but there are a number of reasons for that. Last season, there was a settled defence with Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer. There was great cover at full-back, too. That’s been a key problem for the consistency of Celtic this year but there hasn’t been a huge difference [in points]. Playing Ross County with 10 men this year had a massive impact. But that isn’t taken into consideration by a lot of people.

“I would say to the fans to give their backing because we need it. When things are going wrong or awry, that’s when you really need the supporters to dig deep. Criticism doesn’t help out on the pitch. Players start to hide and don’t show for the ball. The most important thing is that the players and management get encouragement and unity.”

Boyd also believes that not enough credit has been given to the job done by Derek McInnes in maintaining and, indeed, further burnishing Aberdeen’s reputation as viable title contenders. There is a train of thought that suggests McInnes’s side have yet to prove they can go the distance given that at the same stage last season they fell away in dramatic fashion. Whatever, Boyd thinks they have narrowed the gap and points an accusatory finger at those who see competition in Scotland’s top flight as some kind of negative rather than something that should be celebrated.

“Aberdeen have beaten us this year so there has been an improvement,” he added. “They have the credentials and have done well. Have we dropped that much? Three points? That’s not much. At this stage of the season, it is much the same but there is this big clamour to sack the manager? Do we then turn into Real Madrid? I’m sure the likes of Jupp Heynckes and Carlo Ancelotti have been sacked there after winning the Champions League. Look at Chelsea. You are getting into the realms of the clubs who think sitting top of the league is not good enough. Or who don’t want the competition.”

“People were craving competition in Scottish football. Do people really want that? If the minute you get a close competition you then say, ‘crisis’ for a club sitting at the top of the league, do you really want the competition? From my point of view it’s not the time to be calling for the manager. It’s the time to get behind him, to try and support him, to support the players and the team. And hopefully from that perspective we will overcome a credible challenge from Aberdeen this year.’

Spoken like a true ambassador.