Neil Lennon has opened up on Celtic’s transfer policy explaining it was a ‘collective’ responsibility.

The Hoops were criticised for many of last summer’s signings including Shane Duffy and Vasilis Barkas.

The lack of quality in new players may have contributed to the side being beaten to the Premiership title by rivals Rangers who finished unbeaten in the league.

Former goalkeeper Nicky Hammond left his role as head of recruitment in March, but Lennon says it is unfair to just blame one person for the issues.

Asked if players had been signed that he wasn’t interested in, Lennon told BBC Scotland: “I can’t say that. It was collective.

"Let's put it this way, we had other options that we couldn't get so you look at the next best option available and try to work with that.

"I think these players could come good in a normal working environment with crowds back, but it's unfair to judge them on one really bad season as a collective.”

Lennon admits he was confident Ivan Toney was a done-deal last season with the Englishman signing for Brentford last minute.

He went on to score 31 goals for the Championship side last season helping them win promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history.

Lennon said on the forward: "We had Toney in the building at Lennoxtown when we were in France [for pre-season], so we were well down the line with that one.

"Why didn't the deal go through? Just finances, I assume."

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Many fans suggested that Celtic underestimated their local rivals, making less effort to sign players in the process.

But Lennon insisted this wasn’t the case: "That's just cliched. We brought in players. Some of them didn't do as well as possibly they could have done, but they were living in different times in the midst of a pandemic.

"Some of them came from different countries and they weren't seeing anyone else. They were going home after training and sitting by themselves.”

Lenny also acknowledged that, like many clubs, the pandemic had serious financial implications for the club.

He said: "We did try and sign players like Toney but we couldn't get the deals done for whatever reason.

"And we weren't adverse to losing money during the pandemic, which affected a lot of clubs."

New manager Ange Postecoglou faces a difficult rebuilding task as he looks to prepare his squad for both Champions League qualification and the Premiership opener against newly promoted Hearts.