It is impossible to think that the goodwill and bonhomie floating around on the breeze inside Parkhead yesterday was representative of the way Celtic supporters really feel about their club’s continuing – and largely self-inflicted – position as complete deadbeats outside their own small league.After all the fire and thunder around that abandoned AGM last November, it is unthinkable that they have suddenly accepted director Ross Desmond’s assertion back then that actively chasing European success by investing heavily in the squad is a folly of some kind.Celtic have just failed for the sixth time straight in trying to qualify for the Champions League – and cop the £40million that goes with it – against sides with far less resource and expenditure than them. Last week’s exit to Austrians LASK, disintegration rather than mere defeat, was the wake-up call of all wake-up calls.Let’s give the followers of the domestic champions the benefit of the doubt then. Let’s look upon their backing of the players, board and management team who failed them so badly in Linz as an invitation rather than some kind of resignation.An invitation, that is, to finally bring in the players that were so badly required prior to those Champions League preliminaries. Players who might give the club a chance of at least leaving a mark on the Europa League while putting the pedal to the metal at home.And if that doesn’t look like it is happening, there is always Wednesday evening’s home match with Aberdeen to make clear some of the points that many observers expected to be made when Falkirk came calling. Celtic striker Camilo Duran celebrates scoring after a mistake by Falkirk goalkeeper Scott Bain Martin O’Neill watches his team secure a deserved 2-1 victory over Falkirk at Celtic Park German Mika Baur looks like a sound investment, but Celtic are still short in the midfield areaYes, the far-corner ultras did raise some banners before kick-off aimed at CEO Michael Nicholson. Along with the message ‘World Class Embarrassment’, the names of all those clubs who have bombed Celtic out of Champions League qualifying fluttered briefly.That was it, though. Nothing else. No ‘Sack The Board’ chants. No vitriol. It almost had a gala day atmosphere at times, something entirely at odds with the ritual slaughter at the hands of LASK just days earlier.Punters applauded the players off the bus, something manager Martin O’Neill – who does still happen to think UEFA competition is important and that success there must be pursued – felt they didn’t deserve.Luke McCowan, panned for his display last week, also got an extra cheer when he came off the bench in the second half. It was almost as if Armageddon in Austria never happened.Celtic were lucky to have a crack at European football’s top tournament through the easier ‘Champions Path’ at all. They were three minutes away from losing the title to Hearts last term. They didn’t deserve to win it.Have they learned from that? Have they put long-term structures and new ideas in place? Have they eckers like.O’Neill being kept in position as manager just felt like an easy way out, but the 74-year-old remaining at the helm surely just stifles long-term planning, kicks the need to really revolutionise the footballing operation at the club further down the road.In the short term, though, it doesn’t mean there should not be significant investment in the squad. Sure, a total of £30million was spent on Camilo Duran, Mika Baur, Haissem Hassan and Kasper Hogh, currently nursing an adductor injury, and these guys look pretty sound investments.The club didn’t build on that, though, before LASK. Sales of Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda, Maik Nawrocki and Luis Palma mean more than that £30million has been brought in the other way. Celtic are still in the black with ridiculous amounts of cash sitting around in the bank.Yet, they still don’t have a midfielder with legs and defensive nous, they still don’t have a serious keeper to rival Viljami Sinisalo, they don’t have a back-up left-back to Kieran Tierney, who left the field on Saturday nursing what looked like an injury to his upper thigh.They could probably do with something more in central defence as well ahead of the rigorous calendar in prospect. If Reo Hatate – who made himself unavailable for Falkirk – leaves, perhaps an addition in midfield is an idea too.Desmond spoke at that AGM about placing the club in danger by swinging and missing when it came to Europe. This isn’t swinging and missing, though. Spending less than you bring in could be seen as downsizing.Celtic, of course, do have targets. They have been tracking Chelsea left-back Landon Emenalo, aged 18, with a view to a loan deal. Talks are ongoing over PSV Eindhoven’s 19-year-old midfielder Joel van den Berg, who is likely to cost upwards of £3million, but is not a first-team regular.This is fine, but are these guys capable of standing up to Benfica and Marseille right now?Celtic had been strongly linked with Bosnian World Cup player Ermin Mahmic, but he now looks to have been snapped up by ambitious Turks Corum FK. Gvidas Gineitis of Torino and Hajduk Split’s Niko Sigur have been mentioned, too, but the jungle drums don’t seem to be beating so loudly over them any longer.Something significant has to happen, though. It’s not enough to just give up the ghost and settle for kids, frees and loans because the Champions League went for a Burton. Buying now might mean they have something closer to a functional team capable of handling European qualifiers in 12 months’ time.Celtic deserved their 2-1 win over a Falkirk side shorn of its best players and rebuilding at the weekend, but they were no great shakes.Visiting keeper Scott Bain sold the jerseys with a shocking mistake to let in Duran after four minutes and the defending ahead of the Colombian’s second before the half-hour was really slipshod.Sure, Benjamin Nygren and Baur had other big chances, but Celtic ended up on the back foot in the latter stages after a Colby Donovan own goal with 18 minutes to play.O’Neill’s admission that a number of the players are struggling for fitness rang alarm bells, too, but that’s maybe something best kept for another day.It’s nice that the punters stuck with them at a difficult time. It is easy to believe O’Neill and Cameron Carter-Vickers when they said it gave everyone a lift.Season tickets cost a lot of cash, though, and punters are entitled to want to see that money invested in the product on the park.And if it doesn’t look like coming to pass before Thursday’s 5pm deadline, the happy clapping will surely have to stop.