Celtic fans entitled to protest - Scott Brown

Celtic captain Scott Brown says unhappy fans have every right to vent their feelings after a season in which the team have "let themselves down".

Sunday's 1-1 draw against Ross County, which took the Hoops nine points clear with four games left, saw anti-board protests and boos at the final whistle.

"They can say and do as they please because we have not been producing the right results as we should be.

"We know that and we have let ourselves down," Brown said.

Manager Ronny Deila's announcement that he will leave at the end of the season because of a lack of improvement in performances has cast a shadow over the remainder of the club's season.

One Celtic fans' banner read: "Lawell (sic) and Desmond's legacy; empty jerseys; empty hearts; empty dreams; empty stands."

But Celtic could effectively wrap up their fifth Premiership title in a row with victory against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, given their vastly superior goal difference to second-placed Aberdeen, who they face the following weekend.

"We need to bounce back from this now," said Brown, in Dublin to promote Celtic's pre-season International Champions Cup match against Barcelona on 30 July.

"We need to start getting ourselves together. We need to go back to winning ways. We've got next season to look forward to.

'We need to give something back to Ronny'

"We are going for five in a row now and we want to continue it, we want to get six and seven.

"We believe we've got the players in that dressing room that can do that and we've just got to put a lot of faith and trust in ourselves and express a lot more than we have been doing in recent weeks.

"As everyone knows there's going to be a new manager but we're concentrating on the last three or four games of the season.

"For now Ronny is still our manager and now we need to try and win the league for him as soon as possible and give him something back."

Deila resigned days after the Hoops were beaten by Old Firm rivals Rangers on penalties in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Fans were also frustrated at the club's lack of Champions League progress under the Norwegian.

Former West Brom boss Steve Clarke has become the latest to declare his interest in the vacancy, although David Moyes remains the bookmakers' favourite.