James McFadden has leapt to the defence of Mark McGhee with the war or words between Motherwell and Celtic reaching new heights.

A spat erupted before the Ladbrokes Premiership meeting between the two last Saturday when Motherwell manager McGhee took exception to where Celtic were warming up on the Fir Park pitch. Matters failed to subside during an enthralling match as Chris Davies, the Celtic assistant manager, then refused to shake hands with the home bench at the end of the last-gasp 4-3 win for the visitors.

McGhee claimed post-match that he didn't even know Davies' name, a comment shot down by Brendan Rodgers' No.2 earlier this week. Now, Motherwell assistant McFadden has waded into the row in a bid to set the record straight.

He said: “It was always going to come to a point where Celtic had a press conference on the Monday for the Tuesday so they had a chance to speak about it and bring the manager’s name down. Now we are getting the chance to say how it went down. Then people can make their minds up.

“Celtic warmed up in the wrong area, the groundsman asked him to move and he said no. The manager went up and moved them then after the game he [Davies] refused to shake hands with every member of our staff. Which to me shows we acted in our interests but in a fair manner and they didn’t.

“You can then understand why we’re trying to look after [the pitch]. A lot has been made of it, but that happened at the start, nothing happened during the game in terms of myself and the manager with Chris Davies.

“Chris Davies then comes up and refuses to shake hands with you after the game. For me, that is a lack of respect to everyone involved, especially considering how well we played and how much of a test we gave them.

“I think he should have come up and said ‘well done, hard lines’. He didn’t, and that’s what got the manager’s back up. To come and go right in someone’s face having refused a handshake and make a gesture is totally wrong, no matter who you are."

McFadden appeared clearly irked by a situation that he believes has been rumbling on far earlier than this weekend.

Back in the summer Motherwell groundsman Paul Matthew exclusively told Herald Sport of verbal abuse he had received from staff of other clubs when asking sides to train in different areas of the pitch.

Speaking in June he said: “There is a certain amount of teams in our league that seem hell-bent on dismissing you as an individual for what you are trying to do, and I’m talking about dismissing you in an appalling manner.

“I’m out there preparing that surface for their guys to play on. I don’t expect to get the abuse that I receive when I ask an individual to stick to a certain rule. I’m left hung out to dry out there."

McFadden didn't comment on what clubs his groundsman was referring to, but did say about Celtic: "It's gone on for a while. I think he finds there's a lack of respect towards him because he is 'just a groundsman'. But it's the way we do it.

"Our pitch is in brilliant nick but there's a reason for that. We've put a lot of time and money into our pitch. Our groundsman knows what he's doing and if he doesn't want people warming up in the goalmouth then don't warm up in their goalmouth. It's his pitch, it's his job to have it in the best possible condition.

"We asked them to move and they didn't move so the manager went up and made them move. That's not unsettling them. That's just him using his authority to go up and say: 'you are in the wrong place, go and move.'"

McFadden was speaking at Motherwell's pre-Kilmarnock press conference in place of McGhee who was at Hampden admitting using foul, abusive and/or insulting language towards a match official and a steward during Motherwell's 2-0 defeat at Dens Park last month.

The incident was sparked after his team were denied a goal which appeared to cross the line. McGhee held his hands up to an amended charge and was given an immediate two-match ban with one further game suspended.

A Motherwell statement said: "During the hearing, the alleged breach was amended to remove the charge of adopting an aggressive behaviour to both the match official and steward, whilst the breach of addition using offensive, abusing, and/or insulting language was admitted.

"McGhee will not be in the dugout for the league matches against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, but will be back on the bench for the St Johnstone fixture next Saturday."