In football hospitality boxes and share-trading brokerages, many business types view Celtic Football Club as a well-run, financially conservative yet impressively profitable trading entity: brand visibility, cash in the bank, limited debt and a player-trading model that is the envy of comparable clubs. The Fair Game Index has declared Celtic as one of the best run clubs in Europe.

Outside the corridors of power, however, many in the club’s fanbase growl about ambition-less executives, customer contempt, tight-fisted transfer dealings and ungoverned nepotism - all of which they believe are holding Celtic’s true potential back to the point of international regression. Such is the fan ire that Peter Lawwell (Chairman and former CEO) has announced he will stand down in the face of “intolerable abuse and threats”. That doesn't suggest widespread fan approbation.

There is no disputing the ink at the foot of the Celtic balance sheet. Through Lawwell and co's sterling efforts, the club is a financially healthy business enjoying unparalleled domestic dominance rather than its long-gone European glories of 1967 and 2003.

Yet in a social-media era full of amateur analysts, fan forums, terracing tweeters and video bloggers, the narrative about Celtic’s shortcomings is out-shouting those who quietly endorse the way the club operates. When fans chant for board and managerial sackings - amid unrivalled success - a line from Cool Hand Luke feels apt: “What we have here is failure to........

© Herald Scotland