There is an argument that it is better to be lucky than good, and it is certainly one the Celtic board appears to understand. What I do not think they realise is just how lucky they have actually been.

That three-week international break came at exactly the right time for them.

Celtic had lost three games in a row, the next fixture was away from home, and we won it. That bought everybody a little breathing space. They needed it, because we then went straight out to Benfica and lost again.

By the time Hearts came to Celtic Park, the Ibrox club had already dropped points in the league and we scored early enough to settle the afternoon.

The result became a magnificent 7-1 victory and, for a few days at least, it looked as though perhaps we had found something. Perhaps the attack was good enough to cover the multitude of sins elsewhere. Perhaps there was enough quality at one end of the pitch to compensate for what was happening at the other.

But then we got another reminder of where we really are. We are now sitting on five defeats in seven games. We have lost three out of three in Europe. By any measurable standard Celtic used to be held to, that is simply not good enough.

And the manager continues to make decisions which are baffling.

Dropping the goalkeeper for this game made no sense whatsoever, and once again we conceded from outside the penalty area, from exactly the kind of area where we have been giving up goals far too often.

Then there is the media side of it. The manager did not do the press conference the day before the game, but he did sit down for CelticTV, a service supporters are expected to pay for. Well, he can forget it. I will catch the highlights somewhere later.

He said he did not want to blame the officials for the scoreline and promptly set about blaming the officials. But that almost does not matter anymore, because this guy is never going to point the finger where it really belongs. He is never going to identify the people ultimately responsible for where Celtic are right now.

And he still has another year available at the end of this season, an extension which either he or the board can exercise.

I would rather they simply cut him loose when this campaign is done.

This club needs a new direction and a new plan, because this cannot continue with the same people making the same mistakes, season after season, with no meaningful consequences and no meaningful change.

Last night, as though for shits and giggles, BT Sport decided that after the game it would show highlights of some great Celtic European nights.

It was almost as if they were mocking us.

And frankly, if the media wants to rub our faces in this, we are entitled to some mockery. They have every reason to do it. We just have to suck it up and take it.

Because as far as European football goes now, we are not even an afterthought. We are an embarrassment. A shambling wreck of a club which used to be something.

People can talk all they want about Celtic playing in a small league in Scotland. It is bullshit. It has always been bullshit. We are here because of choices.

Look at some of the clubs which have been in the Champions League and some of the results they have managed.

Look at teams from smaller countries, smaller leagues and smaller commercial markets who are still finding ways to punch above their weight.

Belgian football provides obvious examples. Brugge is exactly the sort of club Celtic should be looking at and asking: why not us? And if you want to look at what our future might resemble if we continue drifting, take a look at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not because Celtic can become Union Saint-Gilloise, but because Hearts are trying to become something like that. And if Hearts succeed in building a modern, coherent and well-run football operation while we continue stumbling from one bad decision to another, then woe betide us. We will be in serious trouble.

They were on the end of that weekend hammering and they have vowed not to change the plan. Contrast that with the behaviour of our own club.

The people running Celtic do not seem to understand how serious this position is. Perhaps that is because, so far, they have had all the luck in the world.

And as far as they are concerned, luck might just be enough, at least domestically. Celtic still have enough power in this squad, which cannot compete properly with modest European teams, to get away with it at home.

We may still have enough to win the SPFL. But is enough actually enough? Enough to scrape through domestically every year while becoming increasingly irrelevant in Europe?

Do not get me wrong. I will not complain if Celtic keeps winning league titles. I am not one of these people who believes Scottish football somehow needs another champion, or that Celtic needs somebody else to win the league for our own good.

What kind of logic is that? I have seen enough other teams win titles to last me a lifetime. And since we all know who the likeliest alternative is, I would rather not see it. If the rest of Scottish football rots around us, so fucking what?

Regular readers will know that this does not actually reflect my view.

I am venting because I am pissed off.

Last night, I was watching for the Hearts result. I hoped they would get something because Scottish football needs a challenger who does not come from Ibrox. We need another force in the game, somebody capable of keeping us on our toes and pushing us harder than we have been pushed for a long time.

The only realistic way another Scottish club gets close to doing that is by putting together extended European runs, year after year, and steadily building financial strength. So yes, I was looking for the Hearts result.

They are not my favourite club, but somebody has to do it eventually.

Not necessarily to the point where they start winning the things we want to win, obviously, but enough to make Celtic uncomfortable. Enough to make us improve. Enough to force us to raise our standards.

Under normal circumstances, I am cheering on every Scottish club in Europe bar one.

There may still be enjoyment in winning this league. There may still be satisfaction in silencing domestic rivals and idiotic hacks who drool over the Ibrox club at every opportunity and somehow fail to see what is right in front of their faces.

But there is no glory in this. Let us not pretend there is.

There is nothing glorious about inevitability, or about having advantages so great over every other club in this league that even this board has not managed to screw them up yet. But that day? I have no doubt that day will come.

Because in European terms we are further from the summit than we have been in a very long time, and these people do not have the first clue how to get us back onto the mountain road. We are barely relevant in Europe any longer.

It is an embarrassment.

And with two games at home left in this competition, frankly, both should be played in front of empty stands. Because this board does not care about this competition any more than it cared about the bigger one we failed to reach.

And if the board does not care, and the team is not good enough, then I do not know why any of us should care either.

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