CELTIC manager Tommy Burns put on a brave face yesterday as the internal row over bonus payments rumbled on at the Glasgow club. A report in a newspaper on Tuesday claimed top Celtic players are in dispute with chairman Fergus McCann over win bonuses.

After the 1-0 League Cup quarter-final defeat by Hearts, Burns confirmed that the basis of the story was true. Celtic have snapped up foreign stars like Pierre Van Hooydonk, Andreas Thom, Paolo Di Canio and Jorge Cadete in the last couple of years and the wage-bill has rocketed since the old board was over-thrown in March 1994.

"There is nobody more disappointed than the players themselves that this has come out in a newspaper," said Burns. "The players are bitterly disappointed that we lost to Hearts and that they let the supporters down by this coming out." Reports on the dispute centre on bonuses for unused substitutes with the sanctions by the Celtic players allegedly including a refusal to speak to the club newspaper or programme, or help in commercial activities.