Martin O’Neill returning to the dug-out for a second time last season, after the Curious Tale of Wilfried Nonsense, was a desperate cry for help from major shareholder Dermot Desmond and a Celtic board running around with their hair on fire.He gave them breathing space ahead of an uneasy truce between irate punters and those in the directors’ box. He won a double.He also provided a platform for the club to embark upon a badly needed rebuild with a new coach and a new set-up and should have headed off into the sunset in May, raised high by the masses and showered in rose petals.Talking to him after that last-day title-winning victory over Hearts, he looked exhausted. He didn’t offer any huge indication he wanted to stay on as boss or in any other kind of advisory role.In truth, it beggars belief that he is still at the helm, looking exposed and now the subject of perfectly valid criticism after the total collapse of his team during that 5-1 Champions League qualifying loss to LASK. Martin O’Neill was unable to prevent his side throwing away a four-goal advantage in AustriaIt is still hard to figure out quite how O’Neill secured the title last term. Steven McLean failing to award Hearts a stonewall penalty at Motherwell had a lot to do with it but his ability to get results out of a team he took over at rock-bottom deserved real praise.The football wasn’t good, though. The side was disjointed. They were living on little other than guts and muscle memory. It was clear the whole place needed a refit and that new blood in all manner of areas had to be sourced.That Celtic now find themselves having blown a £40million Champions League windfall at the hands of an Austrian team boasting roughly a third of their turnover and a far lower wage bill – and facing fresh revolt from their support base – is scandalous.For a short while, the £30million spent on Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran, Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan suggested some lessons, at least, had been learned. Sadly, their arrivals proved nowhere near enough – with more cash still having come in from sales so far.The defensive midfielder so badly needed to replace Arne Engels didn’t arrive. A major qualifier ended with Dane Murray and Anthony Ralston on the pitch and O’Neill possessing no answers at all as the goals flew in.The only back-up to keeper Viljami Sinisalo is Ross Doohan. The usual inquest into why Celtic are never prepared for these games is in full swing.CEO Michael ‘Mr Invisible’ Nicholson is rightly back in the line of fire. Interim chair Brian Wilson is still just that, an interim appointment as the world waits for someone fresh with new ideas. The role of head of football operations remains vacant following Paul Tisdale’s departure seven months ago. O’Neill could have walked away a legend after winning an unlikely double last seasonIt is scandalous, really. Celtic’s overall record in Europe over the last 20 years is a joke, but no one at the top seems to care.It feels like they took a risk, against their better judgment, when bringing Nancy in and they’re not going to do that again. Not when the chaos across Glasgow at Rangers looks like they’ll have enough to take the domestic baubles again.With the Desmonds in charge, that insular approach just looks baked-in now.Celtic have become a wholly unambitious outfit football-wise. Some might say unserious.It is clear now that 74-year-old O’Neill signing that new one-year contract with a one-year option back in June was the moment that most unfortunate truth was summed up to a tee.