You know things are turning out badly for a club manager when it takes the Scotland manager to come to your rescue at a press conference. Such was the case yesterday when George Burley leapt to the defence of Gordon Strachan, at a time when the mood is suddenly turning bleak for the Celtic manager.

Strachan is a hunted man these days, after losing a fourth successive Old Firm game on Saturday and with that great Old Firm blasphemy - a trophyless season – suddenly looming on the horizon. Celtic’s 1-0 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox has made their retention of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title appear a long shot, on top of their recent removal from the Scottish Cup by Aberdeen at the quarter-final stage.

Yesterday one prominent Celtic fans’ website had a P45 inscribed with Strachan’s name adorning its front page – a sign of the tide turning against the Celtic Park manager. For some Celtic supporters it appears that two successive league-and-cup double seasons achieved by Strachan, and two successive qualifications for the last 16 of the Champions League, is now irrelevant.

There is an appetite among some of the Celtic fans for their manager to depart at the end of the season. Yesterday, while attending to PFA Scotland matters at Hampden Park, Burley got sucked into the Celtic debate and rode swiftly to the defence of the club’s manager.

“People tend to forget what Gordon Strachan has achieved at Celtic,” Burley said. “The success he has had is unbelievable, and he still has everything to play for in the league. Rangers have the chance of winning honours, which is fantastic, but as Walter Smith has already said, nothing is decided in the league with two Old Firm games at Parkhead still to play.”

Asked about the growing pressure that Strachan is coming under from some Celtic supporters, Burley dismissed the charges. “It is ridiculous, his record at Celtic has been absolutely fantastic,” the Scotland manager said. “I’ve been at a lot of Celtic’s games this season and they have played some tremendous football, the only thing they are lacking at the moment is taking opportunities. Nothing is decided with a couple of months to go, it will go right to the wire.

“If you don’t take your opportunities, that can backfire on you and that has happened [to Celtic] in the last two weeks. But Gordon’s record in Europe as well, where they lost to Barcelona, is no disgrace. He has done a fantastic job at Celtic.”

Meanwhile, Celtic were informed by Uefa yesterday that there would be no investigation into their supporters’ chanting at their recent Champions League match in Barcelona, following the strange case of a journalist sending YouTube footage to football’s European governing body and then writing that an investigation was brewing.

Celtic are known to have been irked by the reports, while Uefa appear to have been slightly bemused by the turn of events. The club, however, can hardly be complacent, given the persistent political chanting by a hardcore of their fans.

A Uefa spokesman, asked to clarify the situation yesterday, said: “We’ve had a look into it but no disciplinary case will be opened. There was not enough evidence.”

A Celtic spokesperson said: “We never felt that there was any case to answer, and we welcome confirmation of this from Uefa. This was simply an attempt by a journalist to manufacture a story and tarnish the good name of Celtic Football Club. Celtic and its supporters enjoy a unique relationship with FC Barcelona and our recent visit to the city was very well received once again by the club, the people of the city and the Catalan police.

“Indeed, the conduct of our fans was applauded by Uefa. Celtic FC states quite clearly that as a club it is open to all, and we condemn anyone who chooses to indulge in any form of negative or offensive behaviour.”