THERE were more questions than answers thrown up by Celtic's boardroom reshuffle as trouble loomed in Paradise yesterday. Dominic McKay's tenure as CEO lasted all of 72 days and his shock departure paved the way for Michael Nicholson, Celtic director of legal and football affairs to assume the position on an acting basis.
The official party line being trotted out was that McKay - who had replaced Peter Lawwell in the summer - had quit "for personal reasons." Whatever narrative was being spun, Friday's boardroom shenanigans were certainly untimely for Ange Postecoglou and an off the field circus that he could well do without.
Ironically Ange must have felt that he had seen the back of a transitional period at the club and had now emerged all the stronger for it after the recruitment of 12 new faces in the August transfer window.
McKay had promised to 'modernise' Celtic when he was officially unveiled in June but the former SRU chief operating officer will not be hanging around to see that pledge through to its natural conclusion with further significant boardroom changes now expected at the club. The truth will out as they say.
READ MORE: Dom McKay's shock Celtic exit set to spark boardroom revolution at Parkhead
Boardroom revolutions and alleged backroom unrest off the park are one thing, however, both Celtic and especially Ange had to answer all the questions on the field as Malky Mackay's Ross County came calling on Scottish Premiership duty. Celtic were left counting the cost of the international break as Japanese bhoy Kyogo Furuhashi was ruled out for a month with a knee injury. The 26-year-old striker is set to miss as many as seven games after he was hurt in Japan's World Cup qualifying win over China last Tuesday.
Ange was also beginning life without Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie who had departed the club on deadline day to put pen to paper for Crystal Palace and Bournemouth respectively. Portuguese winger Jota and Tottenham defender Cameron Carter-Vickers had joined on loan from Benfica and Tottenham Hotspur whilst Irishman Liam Scales checked in from Shamrock Rovers as well as Greek striker Georgios Giakoumakis who was last season's Eredivisie top scorer and had arrived from Dutch side VVV Venlo.
Celtic were in search of their third successive Premiership home win on the trot after racking up impressive 6-0 victories over Dundee and St Mirren in their opening two fixtures. All eyes were on the 56-year-old Aussie and the big question was how Ange would solve his centre-forward conundrum
Would forgotten ex-West Ham Albian Ajeti be handed the chance to resurrect his Celtic striking career by being handed a starting berth in the attack?
The answer duly arrived when Ange released his teamsheets with Ajeti being given his first start of the campaign and Carter-Vickers and Jota also getting the nod with no fewer than five changes to the side that swept St Mirren aside last month.
One look at the bench though highlighted the deficiencies in specific areas with Ange unable to list a striker or an attack-minded midfielder in the substitutes line-up.
It was one-way traffic in the first half as Celtic swarmed all over the Staggies who rarely ventured forward and put every blue shirt behind the ball.
Abada smashed a shot off the crossbar before the 20-minute mark as new boy Jota entertained the Celtic faithful with a wonderful repertoire of tricks and flicks and peppered the County goal with three efforts. Ajeti then spurned a wonderful chance on 23 minutes when he shot meekly into the palms of Ross County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw before David Turnbull rasped an effort into the side-netting.
Abada cracked the crossbar for a second time and screwed one into the side-netting when it looked easier to score during a frustrating first half for the hosts.
At the interval, it was the Celtic fans and Ange who were left wondering why the scoreline remained blank. Celtic were huffing and puffing before Carter-Vickers took matters into his own hands and slammed in a shot that took a massive deflection and spun over Laidlaw into the net for the opener. It was fortunate in the extreme but for all their domination Celtic and Ange were in desperate need of a break.
The game then switched inside 60 seconds when Joe Hart produced a fine diving stop from Dominic Samuel's six-yard header before Ajeti who had been largely ineffective up until that point suddenly sprung into action and brilliantly headed home from Abada's cross from the right on 70 minutes to make the game safe at 2-0.
Ajeti then helped himself to a second goal when he pounced to stoop and head home the rebound after substitute James McCarthy's header had been parried onto the bar by Laidlaw to make the final score 3-0 to Celtic. It was a scoreline that in truth flattered Celtic.
Ironically in the build-up to the Ross County encounter, Ange said: "This next block of games gives us the opportunity to progress our football and, with the new players coming in, to hopefully take it to the next level." At a club like Celtic, it's always about levels.
On the park, at Ange level, Celtic achieved the right result in the end. Off the park, at boardroom level, the real McKay is now gone from the business.
Football is a results-based business and Ange will know that today it was a case of job done.
Even if Celtic were not quite the real McCoy.
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