“Nancy’s grave mistake is evidence of the lack of clarity in Celtic’s vision.”

The Frenchman talked about building castles in the sky. He was under the fatal impression that he had time to communicate his vision and that he deserved patience. He said in his parallel universe that winning wasn’t everything while his masterpiece was under construction.

It was all about the ‘process’. He called on people to look at his previous record as evidence of his ability. “Do your job,” he told reporters the day before he failed to do his job in a 3-1 home loss to Rangers, following a 2-0 defeat to Motherwell.

Nancy and Tisdale had to go. What is also clear is that the club’s miserable state runs much deeper than these two over-hyped figures. It is up to who ratified their appointments and why. It comes down to Celtic, who have not only lost their way on the pitch, but off it as well. Goes to the top.

Celtic have now lost a director, head of football operations and chairman (Peter Lawwell, who was sacked over an offensive element in the support) since Hogmanay.

The lack of communication from the club is striking. Regardless of the extreme elements of support, ordinary fans – the vast majority – feel deeply disconnected and alienated from what is going on.

There is certainly a sense of entitlement for some, and it’s easy to mock that given all the trophies Celtic have won. But elsewhere, there is anger that the club is drifting, making poor decisions, falling backwards domestically and in Europe while sitting with nearly £80m in the banks.

These fans speak of a lack of ambition, a lack of a plan under the current board, led by Michael Nicholson, the chief executive, and Dermot Desmond, the major shareholder, and power in the shadows.

Celtic’s vision appears to be to stay ahead of Rangers and see what, if anything, they can get out of Europe.

Brendan Rodgers disagreed with this thinking and his relationship with the club’s influential people crashed and burned. There was a rawness about his exit and the harsh words about him from Desmond. Rodgers, for all his faults, didn’t deserve this.

His assistant director, John Kennedy, also left at that time. Kennedy was at Celtic for 27 years as a player and coach, yet was barely penalized in a statement when he left. He deserved more. It is a legitimate question – where is the dignity and sophistication?

There is no big picture of Celtic, or not a clear picture. Celtic could finish building their stadium and turn it into an 80,000-capacity castle, one of the best on the continent, but they didn’t do that.

They could build one of football’s greatest museums – Lord knows they have enough icons and great moments to fill this museum – but there’s no sign of it.

They could have deployed a modern, highly accurate reconnaissance system, but they didn’t do that either.

They are going along, rich with money and managing a little, but even that is now in danger. The emergence of Hearts and the support they are receiving from Tony Bloom and Jamestown Analytics threatens to change the game in a very significant way.

Celtic thought they could gamble on Nancy because they couldn’t imagine a world in which any other team could compete for the league title and their bread and butter.