Thirteen months have now passed since Celtic had their hearts broken in Munich – a gut-wrenching Champions League night, but one that was hoped to be the launchpad for an ambitious new era.
Little over a year later, the unthinkable prospect of the Parkhead club finishing third in their own domestic league is becoming more realistic with each week.
Poor recruitment on the pitch and in the dugout from an under-fire board has been the well-documented source of fury for a disgruntled fanbase.
But what do the numbers tell us about this galling 13-month decline?
Since exiting the Champions League to Bayern, Celtic have won just 54% of their matches over 90 minutes, suffering 16 defeats under Brendan Rodgers, Martin O'Neill and Wilfried Nancy.
Eight of those losses have come in the Scottish Premiership this season alone – more than in the past two campaigns put together and the first time since 1999-00 they have lost as many games in a league season.
In the failed bid to win a historic 10th successive title in 2020-21, Celtic lost five league matches. This term, they have lost more than Hearts and Rangers combined, three more than Motherwell and one more than Hibernian.
They would need to score 56 times in their final seven league fixtures to match last season's 112-goal tally. They are also 17 points worse off than they were after 31 matches and have shipped 14 more goals.
Yet, remarkably, they are still in with a shot at the title. Captain Callum McGregor says they need to win “at least five or six” of their final seven. Former striker Chris Sutton says they need to win them all. On current evidence, that seems unrealistic.
With games running out, the sobering thought for a club that posted cash reserves of almost £70m in December is that they could be closer to fourth than first by the time they next kick a ball.
