Celtic boss Ronny Deila looks like a dead man walking after Kris Commons' outburst 

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When Kris Commons delivered his very public Ronny Roar in Molde it was a seminal moment.

The instant the last vestige of tolerance and indulgence of Ronny Deila’s erratic Celtic rein disappeared. The night the wheels came off.

Here was Mark Viduka throwing his boots at Eric Black as a hapless John Barnes looked on. Or Tony Mowbray motionless on the Paisley touchline as St Mirren slammed in their fourth goal.

Kris Commons was furious about being taken off during the Celtic's 3-1 defeat by Molde in the Europa League

The Celtic midfielder (left) reacts angrily to being substituted against Molde on Thursday night

Unlike Barnes or Mowbray, Deila won’t be thrown under a bus. Not immediately. The first Celtic manager in history to be judged solely on what he does in Europe, Chief Executive Peter Lawwell hand-picked the Norwegian. Right now that’s his insurance policy.

Commons has the bigger problem. Living down a spectacular public strop – however justified – will take some doing.

After a night of rancour the former player of the year had two choices.

He either apologised publicly to his manager and team-mates. Or left Celtic in January.

Plenty will feel Commons had nothing to be sorry for. The man himself might be one of them.

He saw little need to apologise because he only said what the Celtic support as a whole were thinking. The substitution was a nonsense.

But what he said was less important than where and how he said it. Images of an animated outburst were plastered over social media and the world wide web. To save his Celtic career there was no option. He had to back down.

To be clear, Commons had every right to feel aggrieved. He is the club’s best player. The only footballer with invention, guile or creativity in a squad stripped bare of genuine assets.

A strong, opinionated character, he has a lot to say for himself. He fell out with Neil Lennon as well. But that doesn’t mean he was wrong.

The decision to replace him during another abject night for Deila’s team in Europe was inexplicable and served only to publicly expose what many already suspected. These are two men with no time for each other.

Commons stormed out of Parkhead after he was ignored for the dismal Champions League defeat by Maribor last season.

He signed a new two-year contract – eventually. But it should be obvious to all by now Deila simply doesn’t fancy him.

Molde made that glaringly obvious. The dugout spat was car crash television which allowed the world to peer in and rubber neck through the cracks in their fingers.

Hoops manager Ronny Deila (centre) was infuriated by Commons' petulant behaviour 

Stefan Johansen won player of the year honours last season. But this term Deila’s golden 'bhoy' has been bang average. If anyone should have been subbed it was him.

Whatever Johansen has on Deila – pictures, videos, whatever – must be dynamite. The footballing equivalent of a smoking gun. There can be no other explanation for the dogged insistence on playing a man who has barely kicked his own backside all season.

The danger is that Commons-gate overshadows another inept performance in Molde. It really shouldn’t.

Because the truth is this. What happened in that dugout may be the least of Deila’s problems.

In 23 European games he has mustered a mere eight wins.

Losing two or three goals is now the norm rather than the exception. The defending is dire, players are chopped and changed willy nilly and when things go wrong there is a complete unwillingness to alter a rigid 4-2-3-1 formation.

Commons and Celtic endured a frustrating night in Norway as they fell to a 3-1 defeat by Molde 

Against Motherwell Dedryck Boyata was partnered in central defence by Tyler Blackett. Unusually for a Celtic defence they kept a clean sheet.

The decision to restore the catastrophic Efe Ambrose to the heart of the backline in Molde, then, was bizarre and damaging.

Against a team sitting seventh in the Norwegian league Scotland’s champions were one dimensional, pedestrian and predictable. Let’s be blunt, Molde should have scored five or six.

During Deila’s rein Celtic have sought to change the culture of the club. A Viking longship was hired to cart a battalion of Norwegian physios and sports scientists in to Lennoxtown.

The effect of that was to alienate a number of long-serving backroom staff. The evidence of Molde would suggest the players are hardly running through walls for him either.

Deila is a likeable character. He talks a good game. But supporters are tired of hearing ‘progress’ while watching their team go backwards.

There were 700 travelling supporters in Norway. They paid their own way and stood in miserable weather to watch a performance best described as norse manure. Leigh Griffiths may disagree. But they had every right to make their feelings known afterwards.

Nothing less than obvious, sustainable improvement in the home games with Molde and Ajax will now suffice. Right now Ronny Deila looks like a dead man walking.