Celtic out of Champions League: The reasons for embarrassing exit against Almaty

In two games t,he lack of ambition to improve the team has boomeranged back and hit the club squarely between the eyes. That is on the board of directors – chief among them, major shareholder Dermot Desmond.

The Irishman is immensely powerful at the club. Would it be too much for the fans to hope to hear from him from time to time? Could chief executive Michael Nicholson give a little insight on the vision?

It would not hurt and it might help explain how they have gone from the optimism of Bayern Munich to the humiliation of Kairat Almaty in six months.

The holes in the team have been obvious for a while. The need for new energy was clear. Somehow, Celtic entered the Champions League play-off round comprehensively weaker than last season.

Tuesday’s failure is also on Rodgers. Celtic get love-bombed at home. Rodgers over-praises his team when they beat up on some domestic sides with a tiny fraction of their budget. Everybody swoons when they put four and five on weaker teams.

When they do a job on Rangers and win another league title to sit alongside all the other league titles, there is a feeling that nothing else matters. Progress in Europe? Yeah, that would be nice.

But keeping the Ibrox club in their box is the bread and butter. It’s about ambition and the board’s interpretation of what ambition looks like.

Celtic should be way, way beyond such parochial thinking. The allegation can be levelled at them, fairly or unfairly, of just wanting to stay a few steps ahead of their city rival.

Occasionally, at Rodgers’ pleading, they’ll push the boat out – Arne Engels, Adam Idah, Auston Trusty brought in at a cost of about £26m – but mostly it is steady as she goes. And it has worked if domestic dominance, player trading and money in the coffers is your ideal.

If trying to kick on from Bayern is more your bag – as is the case with Rodgers – then there is a problem. But Rodgers gets no free pass in all of this.