Ronny Deila turned up for his last ever appearance at Hampden yesterday. It was just a pity that so few of his players turned up to see him off.

The season that has led up to yesterday’s Hampden meeting has ensured that Deila has been a man on borrowed time. Even had the outcome of the penalty shoot-out come down in his favour – and twice Celtic had the chance to turn the screw in that particular lottery – his goose, as it were, would still have been cooked.

It has been death by a thousand cuts, and Rangers can gleefully claim to have scented blood yesterday as they rubbed salt in a season that has never convinced and where Celtic have gone into their shell whenever the pressure has been on.

The question regarding Deila has been a when rather than an if for months – a scenario that would have remained even had Celtic clawed their way back into a match they twice had to come from behind during 120 minutes of football.

Majority shareholder Dermot Desmond will not have missed the fact that this is a Celtic side who are playing on quicksand. They have regressed this season and the Norwegian will ultimately carry the can for it.

And if anything underlined Deila’s reign at Celtic, it was yesterday’s display at Hampden.

The opening ten minutes set a tone for an afternoon in which the Parkhead side repeatedly came off second best to a Rangers side who looked better organised, hungrier and with the pace and match plan to take the game to Celtic. They had a desire that was conspicuous by its absence in the Hoops.

As they headed into the break trailing to Kenny Miller’s opener, Deila had cause to question whether his midfield had remained the dressing room.

But decisions define managers and Deila will have cause to rue too many from yesterday; Tom Rogic ought to have started, the latter months of Scott Brown’s season was encapsulated in his skied penalty kick as Celtic stood on the cusp of winning the shoot-out, Nir Bitton repeatedly gave the ball away and Gary Mackay-Steven looked so far out of his depth he might as well have been heading for the swimming trials at Tollcross pool. Stefan Johansen hustled and harried but was as well short of the mark as he has been all season.

Curiously, Mackay-Steven lasted for 70 minutes before Deila threw him a raft. Callum McGregor was not the introduction that the Hoops fans wanted – Kris Commons was the one they hankered for but the playmaker did not muddy his boots – although McGregor and then latterly Tom Rogic could feel as though they gave the Celtic midfield a balance they did not possess when the game kicked off.

Yet, Mackay-Steven was not the only one overawed. Patrick Roberts may well have a distinguished career ahead of him but he will be haunted by the sight of an open goal in his nightmares after he was first to a rebounded Leigh Griffiths effort that bounced off a post and into his path, only to scorn the gift.

Dedryck Boyata, too, will never welcome a hamstring injury so much as he did yesterday. The defender lasted just 25 minutes before having to be replaced by Erik Sviatchenko – one of a handful of Celtic players who came out of the game with passmarks – but in that period he had been mauled by Kenny Miller so often he could have gone off with twisted blood.

Deila kicked every ball as he stood on the touchline but the criticisms that have been levelled against him this season repeatedly were brought sharply to the fore, particularly in that opening half when Rangers were able to swat Celtic out the game.

Granted, the Parkhead side were more composed in the second period but when Erik Sviatchenko bulleted a header to restore parity just after the break, they ought to have upped the tempo and seen Rangers off comfortably.

Instead, they never quite got over the inhibitions of the opening half. Barrie McKay had a scorcher of a game – but Celtic allowed him to. The winger’s cracking second was one they could have done little about, although Craig Thomson got the throw-in call badly wrong in the build-up to that one.

It is to Deila’s credit that in the aftermath of the game he did not lament the error as the reason for why his side stumbled.

In any case, though, this is a team that requires drastic surgery.

A change in the dug-out will not be the only one required this summer.