This season must go down as one of the most disappointing in the Clubs long and sometimes glorious history, and I for one fully agree that many persons with a stake in the Footballing function of the PLC must go through a serious stage of self reflection and ask themselves if they could have done more to prevent handing yet another title to Rangers. To hand them one is shameful, but three in a decade is unacceptable, even if you accept the mitigating factors involved in 2003 and 2005.
Auld had this to say of the debacle."It was our own undoing," he said. "Everyone from the directors down should look at themselves and ask themselves 'did we do enough for this magnificent club?'
"I don't know who makes the decisions at the top but the title was ours in January if quality had come in.
"We had the title won in January and we let it slip. There is no doubt about it.
"We were playing well, if not outstandingly well but we needed one, maybe two players.
Not content with that opening salvo, Auld unleashed a thinly veiled account of the player's failure to match the expectations of the fan base.
"I can't criticise the players who have been brought to play and maybe the club is too big for them. You can't blame them.
"Also, we have won the reserve league eight years in a row and surely someone should be coming through from there to make the grade.
"But it's not sour grapes, Rangers deserved to win it in the end."
Again I cannot bring myself to disagree with any of this, especially the last sentence. This may have been one of the less talented Rangers sides we have faced in recent years (notwithstanding Ecks team of 2005 that included Crapucho and Egil Lostandsad) but after they handled the pressure of the run-in and also managed to prevail away from home against United they deserve the title.
When drawn on the future of the one man who will require to shoulder a large portion of the blame, Bertie was reluctant to comment on the future of Gordon Strachan's tenure at Celtic Park.
He did however offer a similarly thinly veiled appraisal of the manager as he did the players.
"Gordon will make his own mind up. He has the passion but it depends how he feels.
"Only he will know if he did enough or if the club did enough to help him."
So what next? Well I for one wouldn't want to predict what is next for Celtic, one thing is for sure, it is time for a change of Manager. Whilst I would never call for the head of any manager who has contributed 6 Trophies to the Club, it is startlingly obvious that things have become stale to a critical level.
Thanks for your hard work and dedication Gordon.
Ps which Premiership manager has informed his Club that he won't be renewing his contract for next season? Must be one who currently has a 'rolling" contract.
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt