Celtic let Alistair Johnston head off to Canada to link up with the national squad for the friendlies, and it backfired badly.

The right-back was close to a return. He had been building toward the post-split run-in, and there was a sense he could still play a part for Martin O’Neill in the final stretch. Instead, he has picked up another setback, and the wait goes on.

Johnston was permitted to travel so he could continue his recovery with Canada. The plan looked harmless enough on paper. In reality, it has left Celtic short again in an area where they have already been stretched all season.

Michael Gannon did not hold back on the Record Celtic Podcast. He called the decision an avoidable mess and questioned why Celtic allowed it in the first place:

“Alistair Johnson is on the verge of returning, goes to Canada to do a bit of TV work, puts some keepy-uppies and gets set back again.

“Utterly preposterous decision to let him go back to Canada when he’s that close to coming back. I mean, it summed up the kind of the season for Celtic really, that it can’t do right for being wrong. You might say, listen, go and meet your pals in Canada and catch up with the troops for a wee bit of team bonding and come back.

“On the verge of a comeback, a much-needed comeback, we had Araujo injured and he goes and gets injured in a different jersey. Utterly preposterous.”

That is the frustration in a nutshell. Celtic have spent most of the campaign patching up one issue after another, and every time a player gets close to returning, something else happens.

Johnston has not played since October. Supporters still point to the Sturm Graz game, when he was brought back in after only recently recovering from the injury he picked up against Kairat Almaty in August. It looked a risk then, and it looks even worse now with another setback added on top.

He had surgery. The rehab was long. Now it is longer.

Gannon also said Johnston has to own his side of it, and warned that the timing could cost him beyond this season.

“Let’s be honest. I mean, people have to get real. He’s not going to be able to contribute to any level [if he returns before the end of the season].

“So, I mean, and the talk was that he was close to getting back. He’s on the pitch and all that stuff. He was on the grass.

“I just think it looks like it was too important a time to be allowing that kind of thing to happen. And by the way, it might be that he jeopardises his own World Cup chances by doing that as well. Just seemed another mistake in a season full of mistakes.

“And listen, the player’s got to take responsibility.”

That last point will divide opinion. Some will blame the club for signing off on the trip. Some will blame the player for going.

What is beyond debate is the impact on Celtic. If Johnston does make it back before the season ends, he will be coming in cold and late. There is no realistic chance of him changing the title race from that position.

For a team that needed stability and reliable bodies, this is another avoidable wound. The Hoops needed Johnston available. Instead, they are back where they started, waiting, hoping, and asking how it happened again.