The Neil Lennon 'hate' motivation for Celtic players as Lukasz Zaluska brands Steven Gerrard 'a failure'

The Polish goalkeeper spent six years at Celtic Park and has revealed exactly what Lennon was like as manager.

Lukasz Zaluska has revealed Celtic boss Neil Lennon motivates his players by demanding they HATE their opponents.

The former Celtic goalkeeper also reckons that the Hoops were more focused on the Scottish Cup during his time at the club because they already knew they had won the league.

Zaluska spent six years at Parkhead and was mostly back-up during his spell there, after moving from Dundee United. He won seven trophies and made 28 league appearances for the Hoops.

And he's given a fascinating insight into life at Celtic and insists Lennon was the most motivational manager he's ever worked for.

He said: " Gordon Strachan persuaded me to sign a contract, but when I came to the club, he was gone. Neil Lennon was the most expressive coach ever.

"To say he is charismatic is an understatement. On the pitch he was a killer, like a Roy Keane figure playing in Scotland.

"At my very first meeting with Neil Lennon, when we were preparing for matches there was practically nothing about tactics.

"He saw it as a war, not a match. He used to shout 'I hate them, aaahhh! Do you remember what they did to you the last time we played?' And the team screamed back at him!

"We were told not to shake the opponents' hands in the tunnel, not to even look at them. And he used to say 'remember, refs don't give out red cards in the first 15 minutes.'

"In the Glasgow derby, the game was shown in England too and if a ref sent someone off at the beginning, it would ruin the game. They allowed for a tougher game.

"Red cards were usually shown in every match, but not until around 70 minutes. Some of the fouls in this game were indescribable. If these fouls took place in Poland, you would be banned for several months. In this game, it was normal.

"When Rangers weren't in the league, we won the title with maybe four, five or six games left and the celebrations were muted because we had known for a few months before we would win it.

"Actually, the Scottish Cup games were more important to us because it was a one-off game and one lapse of concentration could see us lose."

Zaluska is convinced Celtic will seal their 10th title in a row next season too and insists Steven Gerrard hasn't done his job.

He said: "Celtic have always prided themselves on nine league wins in a row. Steven Gerrard was supposed to stop this, but failed. I suspect that in the summer, Rangers will invest a lot of money on transfers to prevent the tenth Celtic title.

"Even when we won the second championship in a row, the fans at the matches sang a song about winning 10 in a row. Seven seasons later and it looks like happening. That's why next season is so big.

"Artur Boruc introduced me to two Scottish families, great people who we still keep in touch with today. They explained to me that you can score 30 goals a season for Celtic, but if you don't score against Rangers, you suck.

"It's the same with keepers. You could be brilliant against Hearts, Hibs or Motherwell, but if you made a mistake against Rangers, you couldn't deal with pressure and you would never be forgiven.

"They don't respect players who play badly against Rangers. Georgios Samaras for example was having a poor season and he was always only a sub. But he played against Rangers and scored both goals in a 2-0 win, He was God to Celtic fans after that."

And Zaluska admitted there was something missing when Rangers weren't in the top flight.

He said: "In the beginning, our fans were very happy with what happened to Rangers. There was great joy and the fans sang about Rangers being zombies.

"But when you win the league by 20 points and you don't have the four matches against Rangers and you know they won't be in the top league for a few years, then you can see there was something missing.

"It was amazing Rangers had 50,000 fans at their games in the fourth division in Scotland. They travelled around the villages of Scotland and the grounds there are probably worse than at the same level in Poland. When they returned to the Premier League, you could see how much it meant to their fans.

"When Rangers were in the league, we never played at the same time as them so you watched their game and hoped they would drop points. We were always on about 88 or 90 points and every game was so important that we won. It was stressful."

Zaluska, in a wide-ranging interview with Prezeglad Sportowy, revealed how a Neil Lennon masterclass downed Barcelona in a famous 2012 Champions League clash.

He recalled: "The stadium was like a cauldron that night. The hairs on the back of my neck were stood up before kick off.

"All week, Neil Lennon told us that we might manage to win a corner after about 20 minutes of constant Barcelona pressure.

"So he told us that Charlie Mulgrew had the best left foot in Scotland then he pointed to Victor Wanyama. He told him, 'if you jump at the right time, they can't stop you.'

"He looked at the Barcelona defence and exploited a weakness. He told us how small Jordi Alba was and only reached the height of Victor's chest. He said, 'Victor when you jump, Alba's face will be at the height of your a**e!' That was all we trained for all week.

"And after 20 minutes we got into their half for the first time, do the corner routine and Victor's header almost burst the net.

"I don't think Victor Valdes touched the ball until the end. I don't know why we put on an 18-year-old boy, Tony Watt, because he'd only played a few games. Incredibly, Xavi miscontrolled the ball after Fraser Forster had made about his millionth great save and Tony went through and scored.

"After the match, Rod Stewart was sobbing with joy in our dressing room and said it was the best night of his life."

Zaluska admits he is delighted for captain Scott Brown and former colleague Virgil van Dijk's huge success at Liverpool, but revealed there was one colleague he couldn't believe played at the highest stage in football.

He said: "Scott Brown is one of Celtic's biggest ever legends. He once scored a goal against Rangers and celebrated in front of El Hadji Diouf that is still remembered today. Ask anyone in Glasgow about Broony and they will replicate that celebration.

"I remember Virgil van Dijk's first training session with us. Scott Brown entered the dressing room and asked us how we managed to sign such a player because he had everything. Big, fast, excellent control and he also scored a lot of free kicks for us. I'm not sure why Liverpool don't allow him to take them.

"Every Dutchman I met at Celtic considered himself the best in the world. If he did not play, he was offended. They are not the easiest people to be coached because their arrogance shines through them.

"In 2010, we had Edson Braafheid on loan. He wanted to get games because the World Cup in South African was about to be played.

"Believe me, I can't tell you how bad he was.

"He never got a game at Celtic, but after we had clinched the title, Neil Lennon told him he wanted to try and get him to the World Cup and would play him for three matches.

"He didn't play for Holland in the six matches and then Gio van Bronckhorst got injured in the Final. I'm watching it and suddenly I see Edson getting changed about to go on. I couldn't believe it.

"This was a guy who couldn't even get on to the bench with us and he's playing in the biggest game in football!"