Celtic’s principal shareholder Dermot Fachtna Desmond is officially described as “one person of significant control” at the club.
That designation tells you everything about who truly makes the decisions at the home of the league and Scottish Cup Double winners.
Board members and chief executive Michael Nicholson are effectively supernumeraries, serving as message boys for the man at the top.
Desmond’s control will rarely matter more than it will next week, when O’Neill’s future at the club is set to be determined.
O’Neill is the manager who delivered the most improbable of Doubles against all reasonable expectation, and only the man with significant control can offer the terms needed to keep him.
The deadline for Celtic supporters to renew their season tickets expired on Friday, with any full take-up reflecting unswerving devotion rather than confidence about what lies ahead.
Tens of thousands of supporters have paid three or four-figure sums without even knowing who will be managing their club when the new season begins.
O’Neill brokered a truce between warring fans and an intransigent hierarchy at Celtic Park not once but twice, agreeing to take charge on both occasions.
That fragile peace is likely to be breached if O’Neill is given sufficient cause to doubt the wisdom of staying, particularly if financial backing is not forthcoming.
Brendan Rodgers suffered that exact fate, going out to Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan at the beginning of the season just ended, with an unsigned club statement later released apologising for transfer window shortcomings.
O’Neill pulled the club back from the precipice and delivered a Double described as fit for posterity, yet uncertainty around his future persists.
Rangers have since signed Lawrence Shankland and made known their interest in several other players, prompting familiar accusations that the Ibrox club complete their business while Celtic procrastinate.
Celtic could argue that with six consecutive titles in their sights, procrastination is not necessarily harmful, but O’Neill is unlikely to share that view.
He wants hard cash and not soft soap, recalling the conditions of his original arrival from Leicester City back in 2000.
That arrival saw him backed fully, bringing in Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, Alan Thompson and others who took Celtic to a European final three years later.
The current squad is described as a pale imitation of that group, and could become even weaker if players such as Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels are sold this summer.
O’Neill reportedly needs to know he is “shopping in Waitrose, as opposed to Asda” and that his recommendations for players are followed through without question.
The current understanding is that Celtic have not held dialogue with any of the managerial names linked with the club, leaving them at square one if O’Neill declines to continue.
Word could spread among the managerial community that Celtic want champagne on a lemonade budget, making the role one to be avoided by serious candidates.
A Celtic fan of status, Lord Willie Haughey, is spending considerable resources attempting to have a supporter accepted onto the board to improve customer relations, highlighting the delicate state of affairs at the club.
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