Are we watching the destruction of Martin O’Neill’s legendary Celtic legacy unfold in real time?

At Ibrox yesterday, I watched something that made me feel a bit sick inside.

There was something just flat out wrong about witnessing the 74 year old Celtic manager on the touchline with a look of complete confusion etched on his face.

Martin O’Neill looked every bit the elderly man that he is when the final whistle blew at Ibrox.

I would imagine he felt a bit closer to 80 at that point.

He had just witnessed his Celtic side being ragdolled by a team with 6 Glasgow derby debutants in it.

That said, I can understand why, at times, he looked confused on the touchline.

It was never supposed to be like this.

The last time Martin O’Neill was subjected to a humiliation such as this was in November 2000, when his Celtic side were defeated 5-1 at Ibrox

That is over a quarter of a century ago now.

The fact that he went on to win a treble that season is not relevant 26 years later

That was a different era, and Martin O’Neill was a different football manager then.

He was in his prime as a coach then at 48 years of age.

Now he is an old age pensioner, plucked from the after dinner circuit, and from contributing to Talksport.

Almost this time a year ago, he was predicting that Hearts would win the Scottish Premiership on that very platform.

Little did he know at the time, he would eventually be the one tasked with stopping them.

I doubt he even imagined that would be the case when he made that prediction.

By the same token, I doubt he imagined he would be getting humbled at Ibrox almost a year later by Derek McInnes.

The very man he was tasked with stopping last season.

It’s strange how much things can change in less than a year, isn’t it?

Having let the dust settle on yesterday’s defeat, and having analysed all of the wrath and ire being directed towards Martin O’Neill, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of it is actually misplaced.

The crux of the matter here is that Martin O’Neill did not appoint himself as manager at Celtic

We know who is responsible for that, and throughout his short tenure since last year, they have consistently hidden behind the legendary Irish manager.

They have used him as a shield for their deficiencies, but Martin was only ever going to be able to shield them for so long.

Martin O’Neill did what was asked of him last season, and then some.

He delivered a League and Cup double in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

At that point in time, his legendary status was secured.

He need not have done another thing at Celtic, he had gone on and achieved above and beyond what was expected of him.

But the board, amidst the uproar at the prospect of replacing Martin O’Neill with Robbie Keane, went crawling to him, and asked him to return for another year

Rumours circulated that O’Neill was in severe financial difficulties, and that this appointment would go a long way towards alleviating those difficulties.

We’ll never know the circumstances surrounding his re-appointment for sure.

It may be as simple as he solved a footballing problem for the board, and they solved a financial problem for him.

Either way, if the board were so intent on appointing him, they should have backed up their intentions by supporting him in the transfer window.

Interim Chairman (until the sun burns out), Brian Wilson went on to Celtic TV proudly boasting about how much he would be supported in the summer transfer window.

He promised a very active few weeks, and that the squad would exit the summer stronger.

In addition to that, he stated that we would face this season in the strongest possible position.

Everything else was secondary to what happened on the park, he said.

Would you say that yesterday at Ibrox, and three weeks ago in Linz reflects those sentiments?

I’ll wait.

There are still gaping holes in our squad

Martin O’Neill never got the midfielder he needed to protect his defence.

That hole in the squad was blatantly obvious throughout yesterday’s shitshow of a performance.

In addition to that, we are now led to believe that he was left with no choice but to start with Sebastian Tounekti because Haissem Hassan ‘simply didn’t get much sleep’ the previous night.

I would be leaning towards the fact he was caught between a rock and a hard place when it came to team selection.

He went with Sebastian Tounekti.

He could have gone with James Forrest.

At this point in time, neither are a great option.

Forrest, at 35, is limited in what he can contribute.

We’re all acutely aware of Tounekti’s limitations now.

Whether Hassan’s rough night was down to pre-match nerves, who knows?

Effectively, what could go wrong yesterday, did go wrong.

And I don’t know if Martin O’Neill has the will or the energy to deal with players who are complaining about not getting enough sleep.

What I do know is this.

He made calls that I’m sure he now regrets.

I’d be shocked if he is still not acceptant of the fact that the 4-3-3 formation is failing us badly.

But he is the man charged with making these decisions.

And he is that man because the board appointed him.

The repercussions for that appointment lie at their door

It would appear that the bill for that has now fallen due.

The board are now hanging Martin O’Neill out to dry.

They will be happy to sit back and let him be the fall guy for this season going south, if it goes south.

If any other manager had overseen a capitulation such as the one we witnessed in Linz, closely followed by a capitulation to our arch rivals with glaring similarities, serious questions would start to be asked.

And they should be asked.

But they aren’t.

And that’s a serious problem.

We have had two major warnings as to the direction this season could be headed, and the board has maintained radio silence.

They have not uttered a word.

Nor do I expect that they will.

They will stand idly by, and hope against hope that Martin O’Neill finds the formula to ensure this season is a success domestically.

They have, after all, given him free reign to say that the Europa League is a sideshow

Well, if the Europa League is a sideshow, what the bloody hell does that make yesterday?

Because by the board’s very definition, that’s supposed to be the only show in town.

God help us if that’s the case.

100%, much of the blame for what happened yesterday lies at Martin O’Neill’s door.

Even if we set the Tounekti inclusion aside, the decision to start Sam Johnstone still leaves many question marks.

Johnstone was visibly a bag of nerves in the tunnel at Ibrox before kick-off.

That was then reflected in his performance during the match, where he was all at sea on quite a few occasions.

But none of the above changes the fact that the Celtic board appointed Martin O’Neill.

They appointed him, and then they refused to back him sufficiently.

We are now paying the price for that.

Not only are we paying the price for it, we are watching the board hide behind this shitshow by doing and saying absolutely nothing about it

A defeat against Ferencváros, followed then by a second defeat to the Ibrox side on Sunday next will leave serious question marks around Martin O’Neill’s ability to navigate the remainder of this season.

Our club is a mess right now.

From top to bottom.

And you know what the worst thing about all of this is?

When the accounts are released in the coming days, they could report that we have £100 million sitting in the bank.

If that is the case, it will be bordering on absurd.

But if we lose on Thursday night, and again on Sunday?

The board will do absolutely nothing.

Do you know what will be the biggest crime in all of that?

They will allow Martin O’Neill’s legend to be destroyed at Celtic rather than to admit the error of their ways.

As much as I hate to say it, Martin should never have come back

He should never have put himself in a position where he could become the fall guy for everything that could go wrong at Celtic.

Because that’s where he is right now.

And one thing we know for sure, the Celtic board will never be the fall guys.

It will always be someone else’s fault.

Never theirs.

So, I hope for Martin O’Neill’s sake he figures this out.

Because if he doesn’t, they will 100% hang him out to dry.

You know it, and I know it.

Even legends can die under this board.

There is no limit to the depths they’ll descend to.

Sad but true.

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