FROM a decade of domestic dominance to playing catch-up.

It's unfathomable - if you are a Celtic supporter that is - just how far the football pendulum has swung in Glasgow. The shattered 10-in-a-row dream still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the Hoops faithful. The 'Quadruple Treble' has long been consigned to the history books too.

Yet only last week chairman Iain Bankier was lauding the delayed 2019-20 Scottish Cup win as some sort of achievement last season. Bankier grouped that alongside an incredulous statement included in the financial report which stated that one of the club's operational highlights was 'runners-up in the SPFL Premiership'.

A months-long courtship, and ultimately wild goose chase, for former Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe saw the Celtic hierarchy set a dismal tone for the season before it had begun. The hiring of Ange Postecoglou just three weeks before the season kicked off in earnest was hardly ideal preparation for an organisation that presents itself as a big European club.

The appointment of a new CEO Dominic McKay, who promised to revolutionise the club and make it a 'world-class environment' in every department, lasted just 72 days before the former SRU rugby chief executive was heading for the exit door. Ambition? There appears to be a distinct lack of it at Celtic, especially at boardroom level. This is why you have to feel sympathy for Postecoglou to a certain degree. Ambition costs money.

Only a select few have been backed to the hilt in their role Celtic manager with anywhere near full control over all football-related matters - Jock Stein, Martin O'Neill and Brendan Rodgers. Postecolou has ambition. The Celtic hierarchy appears to lack the drive and the clarity of vision to match his lofty ideals.

Why, if the Celtic board were ready to sanction a move for Howe and his hefty backroom team member, did they not afford the same privilege to Postecoglou? The only change of management personnel has been one in and one out with the Greek-Australian replacing Neil Lennon.

How have the players that have been allowed to exit the famous glass doors not been replaced with similar quality? Celtic recruited some 12 players in the August transfer window with 15 players leaving the building.

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Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie, Kristoffer Ajer, Olivier Ntcham and Leigh Griffiths were all high-profile first-team members allowed to depart. It is arguable if any of them have been suitably or adequately replaced. Couple that with the horrendous spate of injuries to key first-team members of Postecoglou's squad and the 56-year-old has been badly hamstrung luck-wise. He has been placed behind the eight-ball before the Halloween costumes have been donned by a board unwilling to truly invest in him and the threadbare squad.

On the face of it, Celtic are without their best defender, best midfielder, best winger and best striker in Christopher Jullien, Callum McGregor, James Forrest and Kyogo Furuhashi respectively.

It's akin to taking the likes of Connor Goldson, Steven Davis, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos out of the Rangers team. Could the Light Blues function in the same way without those guys? You would judge not.

Although the Rangers board have been quick to realise that it is a squad game and they have backed their manager Steven Gerrard to the hilt. He has all sorts of attacking options at his disposal should he need them.

For example, Morelos, Kent, Ianis Hagi, Kemar Roofe, Jermain Defoe, Scott Wright and Fashion Sakala could all be deployed in a forward role for Rangers. That's seven players. The same cannot be said for Celtic. Take Sunday's 1-1 draw against Dundee United, for example.

Postecoglou had one recognised forward-thinking player on the bench in young Owen Moffat. They also had one recognised striker in the shape of Albian Ajeti with both Jota and Liel Abada the only other two options who could occupy advanced roles in the attack. With Kyogo and Giorgos Giakoumakis both out injured it is a real indictment on those at the top as Postecoglou continues to struggle with a lack of personnel that he can truly count on in almost every area of his squad.

Celtic Way:

They look woefully light in midfield too. The injury to skipper McGregor has only served to highlight that issue even further.

The Celtic board also allowed the Ali McCann train to pass them by and thought nothing of letting the gifted Northern Ireland international join Wigan and put pen-to-paper for the princely sum of £1.2 million. Ambition?

Celtic have also been linked with the likes of Aberdeen's dynamic midfielder Lewis Ferguson but, again, such a transfer would require a financial outlay that the board are never keen to sign off on for domestic talents. There has even been speculation linking Celtic with a move for ex-England international Jack Wilshere.

The former Arsenal man has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and has been a free agent since leaving Bournemouth and had previously been training with Italian Serie B outfit Como. Ironically, the 29-year-old has been consistently linked with Rangers, having played with Gerrard for England. Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures and Celtic desperately need something to kick-start their poor campaign.

How can a team that was supposedly a shoo-in for 10-in-a-row now possess a worse squad than a side that had barely got close in the run-up and has continually failed to reach a domestic final? How exactly did the Celtic board let that happen?

Postecoglou is working with both hands tied behind his back and a board that still appears resistant to change. That being said, he was brought in as the Celtic manager in order to win football matches. A less than 50 per cent win rate is not good enough for any Parkhead boss, no matter who you are.

A stubbornness to make substitutions and a failure to adapt or change his gameplan when it is clearly not working have gotten the Celtic supporters hot under the collar recently.

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The last three games, in particular, have given the fans grave cause for concern. Postecoglou's men blew a two-goal lead away from home during a Europa League tie to lose 4-3 against Real Betis in Seville before succumbing to bottom-of-the-table Livingston and added to that Sunday's stalemate with Dundee United.

In all three encounters, the manager could reasonably be accused of not making the correct substitutions or changing his tactics and gameplan in order to secure three positive results which were well within Celtic's grasp.

Sitting sixth in the Premiership table after seven domestic games is not a good look for Postecoglou, granted. It will be results, or the lack of them in the end, that will ultimately be his downfall should the current state of affairs continue much longer. If the Celtic supporters turn on the board then they will inevitably turn on the manager. There are 40 million reasons why he has to get this season right.

That's the bounty that could be on offer for this term's Premiership title-winners assuming it guarantees them automatic entry into the Champions League group stages. Last week Postecoglou cursed Celtic's injury luck, saying: "There’s something looming over me." With trips to Pittodrie, Fir Park and Easter Road to come in October, any more slip-ups in the title race could well see something looming over the Australian. The Sword of Damocles.

That's how fickle life is and how this football malarkey works. Postecoglou knows that only too well.

It is the time for the Celtic hierarchy to fully get behind their man and support him as he attempts to turn things around.

Postecoglou most certainly appears to have Celtic's best interests at heart - not his own. That's perhaps more than can be said for many of those figures operating above him.