I have a question, and it is one I suspect plenty of Celtic supporters are beginning to ask themselves, even if they are not particularly comfortable with the answer.

How long can Martin O’Neill’s previous achievements at Celtic continue to protect him from criticism when the present is becoming so difficult to defend?

Two wins in the last seven games. Five defeats.

And now, with Celtic travelling to Easter Road to face Hibernian on Sunday, the possibility of a sixth defeat in eight games is staring us in the face.

Let me put that into perspective. Six defeats in eight games is precisely the record which contributed to Wilfried Nancy losing his job.

Yes, the manager whose disastrous spell at Celtic became so difficult to tolerate that the club pulled the plug in record time.

And now I find myself asking an uncomfortable question.

If results are unacceptable for one manager, why should they suddenly become acceptable for another?

Because Martin O’Neill is Martin O’Neill? Really?

Let me make something absolutely clear before anybody accuses me of disrespecting a Celtic legend. I have enormous respect for Martin O’Neill.

His achievements at Celtic deserve to be celebrated, and his place in the club’s history is secure. He gave supporters memories which will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

I am not interested in rewriting history, nor am I going to pretend that his previous successes count for nothing.

But football does not operate on sentiment alone.

A manager’s reputation can buy him patience. It can buy him the benefit of the doubt when results turn against him. It can persuade supporters to remain optimistic when they would otherwise be demanding answers.

What it cannot do is turn five defeats into victories.

I am sorry, but that is not how football works.

O’Neill returned to Celtic when the club needed experience, stability and somebody capable of bringing a difficult situation under control.

He was welcomed back with understandable affection, and his previous record meant supporters had every reason to believe he could steady the ship.

But there is a difference between trusting somebody to fix a problem and assuming they are incapable of becoming part of that problem themselves.

And that is where the conversation becomes rather more serious.

Let us examine the situation without the emotional attachment, without the nostalgia and without the familiar tendency to make excuses for people we happen to like.

Nancy’s spell at Celtic ended after a disastrous run of results. His position became untenable because the performances and results were not good enough for a club with Celtic’s ambitions. Now O’Neill is facing questions of his own.

Two wins in seven games is hardly the sort of sequence which inspires confidence. Five defeats in that period is worse still. If Celtic lose at Easter Road on Sunday, it becomes six defeats in eight games.

That is not a minor wobble.

It is not one unfortunate afternoon followed by a perfectly understandable reaction.

It is a pattern which demands serious examination.

And I want to know what we are actually seeing.

Are Celtic suffering because of the coaching? Is the system failing the players? Are individuals making too many mistakes? Is the squad lacking the quality or balance required to execute the manager’s plans? Or is there a combination of problems which cannot be solved by changing one thing alone?

These are legitimate questions, and they deserve proper answers.

What I do not want is for the discussion to descend into a competition over who loves Martin O’Neill the most.

This is not a Celtic supporters’ audition for the role of Chief Nostalgia Officer.

We can respect the man and still question the manager.

In fact, I would argue that being able to do both is an essential part of supporting Celtic properly. There is another issue here which I refuse to ignore.

Celtic’s problems cannot automatically be reduced to the man standing in the technical area. The club’s recruitment, squad planning, coaching structure and overall football strategy must also come under scrutiny.

If the players are not suited to the system, who assembled the squad?

If the coaching is not producing the required performances, who is responsible for ensuring that the coaching structure is good enough?

If the same problems keep appearing, who is identifying them and making sure they are addressed?

Those questions do not disappear simply because Martin O’Neill is in charge. Nor should the board be allowed to use his reputation as a convenient shield against criticism.

Celtic need a functioning football operation, not a collection of individuals hoping that a famous name will make difficult questions disappear. A manager can only work with the resources, players and structures available to him.

That matters. It would be unfair to ignore it.

But equally, the manager has to be judged on what happens on the pitch.

Both things can be true at the same time.

What a revolutionary concept!

I want Celtic to succeed under O’Neill. I want him to find the answers, restore consistency and remind us why his return generated so much optimism in the first place. I have absolutely no desire to see another managerial disaster unfold at Celtic Park.

But wanting somebody to succeed does not mean pretending that they already are.

And that brings me to Easter Road.

Hibernian away is never a fixture Celtic should approach carelessly, particularly when confidence and consistency are already under question.

After this recent run, it is a game in which the team has to demonstrate that it can respond under pressure.

What concerns me is the frequency of the defeats and what they might be telling us about Celtic’s current direction.

We have already seen how quickly one emphatic victory can change the mood.

The extraordinary 7-1 win over Hearts generated excitement and made it tempting to believe Celtic had finally turned a corner.

Then another defeat arrived and brought all the uncomfortable questions straight back.

One magnificent performance does not erase a poor run of results, just as one defeat does not invalidate everything a manager has achieved.

Consistency is what matters.

And Celtic need considerably more of it.

Sunday is therefore an opportunity for O’Neill and his players to respond.

It is not a guarantee that everything will suddenly be fine, nor should a victory automatically end every discussion about the underlying problems.

We need to see progress, not merely a temporary escape from criticism. So, does Martin O’Neill’s previous record buy him immunity?

My answer is no. It buys him respect. It buys him patience. It buys him the recognition he has earned through years of service and achievement.

It means his position deserves to be assessed with an understanding of what he has done for Celtic and the circumstances in which he returned.

But immunity? Absolutely not.

No manager should be exempt from scrutiny at Celtic.

Not Martin O’Neill. Not Brendan Rodgers. Not Wilfried Nancy. Not anybody else who takes responsibility for leading this football club.

The standards must remain the same, even when the individuals involved are held in very different levels of affection.

And if O’Neill is approaching a record of six defeats in eight games, the club has to take that seriously.

It has to examine the performances, identify the causes and decide what needs to change.

That does not automatically mean sacking him.

It means refusing to let sentiment replace football judgement.

I will never deny what Martin O’Neill achieved at Celtic. But I will not use yesterday’s glories to excuse today’s failures either.

Celtic are too important for that.

The question is no longer whether O’Neill deserves our respect. He does. The question is whether the current situation is good enough, whether it is improving and whether the club is doing everything necessary to put things right.

Those are the questions which matter now.

And on Sunday, I want Celtic to provide some answers on the pitch.

Because, with the greatest respect to a Celtic legend, history is there to be celebrated. It is not there to excuse the present.

Choose The CelticBlog as a ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the news you value.