Barry Ferguson has hit out at Brendan Rodgers' "unnecessary" and "wrong" comments about him, Neil McCann and Billy Dodds.
The Celtic manager had aimed a dog towards the former Rangers interim management team for commenting on current boss Russell Martin when they were recently in his position.
Rodgers defended Martin amid the intense scrutiny he is under and said the trio's assessments didn't sit right with him.
Ferguson had already responded and defended his allies, insisting nothing they said was personal or over the line. He has now gone further.
Speaking to the Daily Record, he said: “The one thing I would stress is that it hasn’t diminished in any way my respect for him as an excellent and very successful manager.
“But I do feel I also have to make it clear that what he said was wrong. Neither myself, Neil McCann or Billy Dodds have said anything disrespectful about Russell or what’s been going on at Rangers this season.
“I have listened to every word of it and it’s been constructive at all times. None of it has been even remotely personal.
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“People have said the criticism was aimed at my backroom staff but, for me, it was aimed at all of us. They were my staff, I was in charge, so it was aimed at me as well.
“Our tactics obviously weren’t perfect because we lost a few games and we know we could and should have done better in some of them.
“But we did get our tactics spot on when we won at Celtic Park and they couldn’t beat us at Ibrox in the second Old Firm derby, so we also had a good idea of what we were trying to do.
“Like I’ve said, it’s an emotional game and sometimes people say things they later regret. I’m not angry but we are guys who have played, coached and understand the game so I found the tone of what was said just very unnecessary.”
Kris Boyd this week said Brendan Rodgers had played a blinder by deflecting focus away from Celtic fan protests towards their own board.
Ferguson sees it the same way and added: "I couldn’t see any reason for it. It just felt a bit odd coming from a man of his experience. It felt very much like a deflection tactic.
“If I had been asked the same sort of question I would simply have shut it down on the basis that it’s not my job to comment or concentrate on what’s happening at another club.
Celtic have obviously got their own internal issues at the moment and that’s not my concern.”
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