"I described it as a car crash which Neil saw on the horizon and decided that he didn't want to be behind the steering wheel when it happened."

As Scottish football writer Ronnie Cully told Off The Ball last week, Neil Lennon certainly got out of Celtic Park at the right time with the 6 - 1 aggregate defeat to Legia Warsaw in the Champions League third qualifying round the best form of evidence.

After relative recent success in Europe - despite continually diminishing resources - the former Hoops manager had taken Celtic as far as he could.

With the SPL declining on the field and in terms of UEFA coefficient points; symbiotic bitter rivals Rangers rebuilding a wreck, it was no secret that Celtic were trying to build success on a foundation of cheap yet promising signings later to be sold on for a profit.

But such a policy can be a minefield as Cully emphasized and looking at Celtic lineups since the 2003 UEFA Cup final team shows how things have diminished at Parkhead over the past 11 years.

From a team crammed with talent internationals like Henrik Larsson and Stilyan Petrov, the overall quality and experience available to Celtic has certainly declined.

But this being Celtic, let's not right them off in terms of finding a formula to bring the good times back!

2003 UEFA Cup final v Mourinho's FC Porto

Fast forward to the team that lost to Barcelona in the 2007-08 Champions League second round

The team which played against Juventus in the 2012-13 last-16 first leg of the Champions League

The side that slipped 4 - 1 to Legia Warsaw in the Third Qualifying Round first leg this season

Since the achievement of reaching the last-16 in 2013, the Hoops sold the likes of Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama to Premier League clubs, raking in over €20 million last season, but only ploughing about half of that back into transfer fees for recruitment. 

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