Imagine, if you will, a universe quite different from our own, where Martin O’Neill awoke yesterday possibly nursing a celebratory hangover.

In this parallel world, O’Neill’s triumphant return as Celtic’s manager culminated in a victorious Premier Sports Cup Final at Hampden.

His legendary status at the club was once again solidified. Celtic, which had endured a tumultuous season, seemed to find unity under the guiding influence of the 73-year-old luminary.

However, reality paints a grimmer picture: a 3-1 loss to St Mirren marks three consecutive defeats in the Frenchman’s first three matches, marking the worst start in Celtic’s managerial history.

Though Nancy has barely settled into his role, he already faces immense pressure as the team prepares to confront Dundee United at Tannadice tomorrow night.

Martin O’Neill waves goodbye to the Celtic fans after his successful stint in interim charge

Wilfried Nancy replaced O’Neill and has lost his first three matches in charge

O’Neill had quickly built up a rapport with the Celtic players during his interim spell

If the downward spiral continues, Celtic supporters might find themselves carving their holiday turkey next week while contemplating the end of Nancy’s tenure.

How did it come to this? If the departure of Brendan Rodgers was a necessary and inevitable landmark in Celtic’s season, why was the process to replace him handled so abysmally?

To borrow an old line from Malcolm Tucker, why has the club turned into a complete and utter omnishambles?

These are questions that should be asked of chief executive Michael Nicholson, chairman Peter Lawwell, head of football operations Paul Tisdale, and of the club’s major shareholder Dermot Desmond.

But the radio silence continues from the Celtic high command. None of them chose to appear alongside Nancy when he was unveiled a fortnight ago.

That felt like a strange and slightly selfish move. Barring a few platitudes about the new manager in an official club statement and a brief club tv interview with Nicholson, there has been no communication from the club hierarchy.

Nothing beyond Desmond’s remarkable character assassination of Rodgers when he left the club back at the end of October.

Is it not time we actually heard from one of these guys? Is it not time they actually had the bottle to face questions in a public forum rather than a sham AGM? Or, in Desmond’s case, sending your son as the messenger boy.

Questions like why in the name of god’s green earth did they decide to bin O’Neill and replace him mid-season with an unproven manager from Columbus Crew in America?

It was a ridiculous, reckless gamble – and one which is now in the process of backfiring spectacularly as Nancy lurches from one disaster to another.

O’Neill’s appearance on talkSPORT was fascinating. Speaking as openly and candidly as ever, he revealed that he would have been open to staying on as manager had the club asked him to do so.

He also explained that Nancy did not seek any advice when he took over in terms of the players and the squad he was inheriting.

That was an extremely naïve move from the new manager, if entirely in keeping with everything else he has done and said over the past week.

But it was O’Neill’s first point about the board not even asking him to stay on that really does raise serious alarms.

Why did no one even think to at least ask the question? Under O’Neill, Celtic had a renewed sense of purpose and confidence.

The fans were back onside and the team were getting results on the pitch. The performances weren’t always brilliant, but seven wins from eight games spoke of an experienced campaigner working his magic.

By the time O’Neill left, Celtic had clawed back a nine-point gap on Hearts at the top of the league. They had just beaten Feyenoord in Rotterdam and had a League Cup Final to look forward to.

But the timing of his departure and Nancy’s arrival now looks awful. It has sucked all the momentum out of Celtic’s season and plunged the club into a full-blown crisis. Total freefall.

Nancy is not without blame in all of this. Given that he is repeatedly deploying the players in a system that is alien and ill-suited to most of them, that’s on him.

It is incumbent on any manager to give their players the best possible chance of success. At the moment, Nancy fundamentally is not doing that.

There are already signs of disillusionment and bewilderment among the Celtic players about what they are being asked to do.

At full-time on Sunday, it was fascinating to watch Nancy’s interaction – or lack of – with his players. He looked like a lost soul in the wrong movie.

He stood alone, with his hands in his pockets, as goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods went round and picked the players up off the floor.

The Celtic players had looked utterly dejected after losing Sunday’s final to St Mirren

Whilst English is not his first language, the notion that Nancy is not a good communicator goes beyond anything being lost in translation.

But it’s the people who appointed him who are every bit as culpable. There’s a natural tendency to polarise these things, but both things can be true at the same time.

In the eyes of this observer, Nancy won’t last. He’s simply not cut out to be manager of a club like Celtic. But if he does end up with a P45 before the season is out, then so, too, should those who appointed him.

In O’Neill, they had a vastly experienced operator who could quite easily steered the ship home until the end of the season.

Would that have guaranteed success? No, of course not. But Celtic’s chances of winning trophies would have been vastly improved under O’Neill compared to under Nancy.

The fact they never even asked O’Neill the question is merely the latest act of negligence and incompetence from a board who would rather blame fans than engage in any self-reflection.

At no point over recent months have they looked inwardly. Even when Rodgers left, Desmond was adamant that there was nothing wrong with the structure of the club or how it operates.

But that just doesn’t match the reality of what is now unfolding. More than anything, Celtic are a club who have been crippled by complacency.

It has now caught up with them. They have taken a reckless gamble with a manager who simply isn’t up to the job.

Given that they already had O’Neill in the building, it is proving to be a heinous act of self-sabotage. Sometimes the answers are staring you right in the face.