It says much about where Celtic are as a club right now that very little of Martin O’Neill’s pre-match press conference actually centred on the match in question.Just in case you hadn’t heard, Turkish giants Besiktas are in town for a game which the Parkhead men surely must win to stand any chance of progressing in the Europa League.Their squad contains former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu and ex-Arsenal midfielder Leandro Trossard. For added spice, how about former Rangers’ defender Ridvan Yilmaz playing left-back, or Vaclav Cerny, a man who once squirted water at Celtic supporters, being their right-winger?Their manager, Vincenzo Italiano, also happened to oversee Bologna in January as O’Neill’s men emerged with a draw from a fiery encounter on the road.On another day, those plot lines would have dominated the agenda. Yet they were relegated to mere footnotes as a consequence of Celtic’s seemingly inexorable lurch towards crisis point.Bluntly, the identity of the side which will seek to inflict a record fifth consecutive European defeat on their team is of little concern right now to the green and white hordes. They only see a side which is regressing and a manager and a backroom staff who seem incapable of arresting the slide. Celtic manager Martin O’Neill is hoping a much-needed win in Europe can help lift the gloomMore significantly, in the wider picture, they view the hierarchy as being devoid of the necessary ambition or footballing intelligence to turn the tanker around. The lack of scrutiny the directors have subjected themselves to as matters have steadily deteriorated on their watch is another major bugbear.Purely taken in isolation, then, it’s hard to be critical of the fact that some of those suited figures – plus O’Neill – voluntarily put themselves through a ‘hard but fair’ questioning at Greenock Celtic Supporters’ Club on Monday evening.‘When things are going really well at the football club, you can take all the plaudits and all that you want,’ said the manager. ‘At the end of the day, there are bad times and I think that you should face up to that.’O’Neill, to be clear, wasn’t on the original list to attend. Once he heard of the event, he made it his business to be there.While he could have lived without a balaclava-clad welcoming committee, he felt the exercise was largely positive.‘First of all, I wasn’t really aware of the meeting, so it was kind of an ad hoc thing,’ he explained.‘I spoke to Michael (Nicholson, chief executive) and he said that they were going to meet. And I said, “Well, I wouldn’t mind going down to it if that was the case”, obviously to experience what the fans would be asking. Falkirk’s defeat of the champions last weekend has seen a wave of criticism hit the Celtic boss‘I don’t know whether they expected me to be there or not, but it doesn’t really matter. Regardless of who was there, the meeting itself was robust with strong, strong questioning.‘Hopefully, some of the answers would maybe quell if not satisfy. I don’t know what the overall picture would be. But, yeah, I was pleased to have gone.’Accused of adopting the public profiles of Invisible Men throughout this year, the presence of Nicholson, Chris McKay and Brian Wilson in Inverclyde became instantly newsworthy.With the divide between the boardroom and fans apparently widening by the week, even hardened cynics viewed the trip to the Tail O’ The Bank as a small step in the right direction.With the AGM on the horizon, the hope is that the meeting might just lead to a more civilised discourse going forward.By all accounts, the questions asked on every subject from recruitment to the hoarding of cash were answered as fully as possible. But no one on the floor left the building clicking their heels at what the future holds. Talk is cheap, after all.‘If the takeaway was that the board were going to do something to satisfy the supporters in that sense, then that would be great,’ added O’Neill. ‘That would be brilliant for all.’ Angry Celtic supporters continue to make their feelings clear on the club’s board every weekBy sheer chance, O’Neill was scheduled to attend a Q&A with supporters when he first returned to the club last year. A Celtic legend as a consequence of his exploits at the turn of the century, those present stopped just short of carrying him in a sedan chair.After just three wins in ten games, the mood music around him was a little less jovial in Greenock.For perhaps the first time in his long association with the club, adverse results have seen a spotlight shine on him.‘That’s the course of a football season or the experiences of a football club,’ he shrugged. ‘I think sometimes you have to put a few things into perspective, both good and bad. And I think the other night was one of those, you know?‘People are asking me now if it’s something I’m going to continue to do. No, my main job depends on results and winning some football matches. That’s the most important thing.’Back in the day, criticism over such a wretched run would have been limited to newspaper columns and radio phone-ins. In the modern era, the level of flak is amplified by the proliferation of podcasts and blogs from citizen journalists.‘I have never been immune to that,’ O’Neill insisted. ‘Listen, everyone would love to be praised every single minute of your life. But that’s not going to happen. You’ve got to forget about the noise and try and get on with it and get back to winning ways. Former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu will lead the line for Besiktas at Parkhead on Thursday‘Everyone is a tactician now, that’s the whole point. Everybody is a football manager. There are people who have got jobs in football now because they played a PlayStation. Honestly, it’s extraordinary. But it does not bother me, honestly, it doesn’t.‘People talk about tactics, but in my semi-defence, no one talked about tactics when we won the seven games to win the league. Or the 14 games we won before we got beat.‘And you know what? If you got beaten in a game, you think that maybe that somebody has out-thought you. Absolutely. You’re right to think that.‘John McGlynn has every right to be proud of his (Falkirk) side after beating us and to have had the upper hand.’O’Neill, unusually, has got used to losing lately, with seven reverses coming by the first week in November. But, as those in attendance on Monday or when he appeared in Dingwall for a B team game the following night will attest, he’s not lost his desire to lead or to win. He remains all-in.‘I really have to be, honestly, because I’m supposed to be the driver of the club,’ he stated.‘For instance, last night (Tuesday), that was wildly important for me to go up to that game (in Dingwall). I feel that that’s my job at the end of the day.’