In a season of unfathomable lows, it was another tipping point. Ross County did little to exorcise the demons of Celtic’s Scottish Cup humiliation to Ranger.

Rather, the visit of the Highlanders – who provided their own jaggy thorn in the Parkhead side this season – magnified the chaos within the club.

Last week’s statement to confirm a parting of the ways with Ronny Deila did little to quell the disquiet between the board and the supporters – and little to ease the resentment the paying punters feel towards a squad of players who have vastly underperformed throughout this campaign.

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It is to Deila’s credit that he has protected his players or certainly has withstood what must have been a tempting pressure to lacerate them publicly not just for their performances but for their lack of spirit, heart and appetite this term.

Not that they have been lent the same protection from the stands.

Deila, though, will seek to ringfence the players from further criticism as he looks to spread some calm at Lennoxtown this week.

“We had a really difficult week last week,” he said. “It was tough. There was a lot of talking, a lot of conversations about this season and what it has meant between myself and the players.

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“It is not easy when there is so much anger around the club. I understand it. I know why it is there.

"But the end is in sight and my job now is to keep the focus of my players on winning the league.

“I have not been here for a long time, only two years, but I think I am right to say that it is a long time since this club won the title for five times in a row. It has to be what we are thinking about.

“I want this week to be quieter, calmer. Our energy has to go on the training ground, not on things going on around the club.”

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The banners made clear the chasm between club and support on Sunday and any prospective manager will have a job purging the dressing room of players whose hearts appears to lie elsewhere.

Sunday was as insipid and meek as it has been all season and not since the pre-Martin O’Neill era has there been a requirement for a manager to come in and yank the dressing room by the bootstraps.

O’Neill inherited the spine of a strong squad – Henrik Larsson, Bobby Petta, Lubomir Moravcik, Paul Lambert, Stiliyan Petrov, Johan Mjallby and Jackie McNamara – all went onto the play significant parts in that Treble-winning season of his maiden campaign, but it will be interesting to see how many of the current squad will prevail when a new broom sweeps clean.

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Kieran Tierney collected the club’s own Young Player of the Year award last night while Leigh Griffiths took an inevitable triple sweep of honours; top goalscorer, Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year.

There has been precious little competition to challenge him in any of the three categories.

Griffiths has escaped criticism simply because of his goals, but he too blotted his copybook at the weekend.

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His frustration boiled after scoring the opening goal when he seemed to send the ball flying towards the Green Brigade, a clear rebuke at the banner which criticised, among others, the “empty jerseys” that have been on show throughout this season.

In an utterly forgettable season for Celtic, he could become the first Hoops player since Henrik Larsson 12 years ago to hit 40 goals in one season, and Deila has admitted that the striker took him by surprise this season.

“In some ways, yeah, Leigh surprised me,” said Deila. “I have so much respect for him and for what he has achieved this season. I would love to see him score 40 goals because it is such a tremendous milestone, but what he has done this season has been phenomenal.

“He took everything on board that we asked him to. He listened, he worked hard and he has got a reward. The thing with Leigh – and with KT – is that they wanted to get better. On Sunday he scored with his right-foot – bang, right into the top corner – and that is not luck. That is his weaker foot. “That takes practice, practice, practice. He wants it. He will still want it next season – and he will keep delivering, if he keeps working.

“He is a great person, a good character in the dressing room and I have a lot of admiration for what he has achieved this season. He will continue with it, I am sure of that."

Leith-born Griffiths relishes the games against Hearts, particularly at Tynecastle. If ever Celtic needed a performance to gee them up for the remaining three games of this season - bizarre in itself given the proximity of the title - the this is it.

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The Hoops need to win and look for a favour from Motherwell at the weekend if they are to finally stagger over the finish line.

Deila's focus is on dredging up a decent performance.

"We want to win our last games and we want to win sell, but our energy has been elsewhere," he said. "Now we need to regroup. We owe it to ourselves as a team and as a club and we owe it to the fans to lift the performance. It has not been good enough."