WHAT constitutes success at every other club in Scotland does not necessarily wash at Celtic. Ronny Deila knows as much. Rangers’ fall from grace in 2012 reduced, at a stroke, a bipartisan state to a monopoly. Celtic were now the leading club in the country and no mistake. The positives were obvious: an unfettered path to the championship every season (in theory), an annual route into the Champions League (again, in theory), greater media coverage, a higher profile and all the rest.

The negatives? Well, the scrutiny and focus would now be just as ferocious in the bad times, too. And this is what Deila is experiencing now. There is no favourite for the English title so when the challengers all lose – as happened with Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester City in midweek – then the blame and opprobrium is shared around. Celtic draw at home at Dundee and there is no ambiguity over where the spotlight will be trained.

The trauma at Ibrox four years ago shifted the parameters of what was now acceptable at Parkhead. Prior to 2012, any Celtic team that was winning the league by four points and still in the Scottish Cup come March would usually be well received. The grumbles of discontentment that echoed around Celtic Park in midweek following a second successive draw made clear that is no longer the case. Celtic will book their place in the semi-finals of the cup with victory at home to Morton this afternoon, while, despite their travails, they remain just 10 games from a fifth successive league title.

A double, though, might not be enough to quieten the growing clamour for Deila to be replaced. There are lingering regrets – on his part, too – that Celtic did not make any impact in Europe this season, while consternation abounds about the humdrum nature of many of the performances. If Deila were manager anywhere else then he would be carried aloft through the streets amid a state of ecstatic frenzy should this campaign conclude with two trophies sitting at his feet. At the modern Celtic, however, that might not be enough.

“It hasn't been a bad year if that happens,” said the Norwegian of the possibility of a domestic double appeasing the masses. “We’ve done something right. But there are two things here [that go against him]. The results in Europe haven't been good enough, and I’m the first one to hold my hand up to that. And the second part is the part coming now.

“But the results domestically have been OK. We’ve had the two semi-finals we lost after getting red cards early in the games, we’ve won the League Cup, won the league by 17 points, are four points clear now and we can also win the Scottish Cup. I don’t know [whether the spotlight would be shared] because I haven’t been here since Rangers have been up. Again, it’s a high-pressure club and there are very high demands because of the history and that’s something we have to deal with and cope with.”

There are conflicting views on whether the aesthetics of the performances matter or not at this point of the season. Deila is of a view that there is a need to play with a bit of style, to win convincingly and in an entertaining manner. His leading striker, Leigh Griffiths, thinks that no longer matters.

“Every big club wants to play positive football,” added the manager. “It is an important thing in the history of this football club. That is a big thing for me as well. I am hurting and burning inside as well when we are not performing as we want. When you get three points we are happy for the three points but sometimes we are not happy for the performances. From when I started here I have known you have to combine performances with results.”

Griffiths, though, will take victories regardless of how they are achieved. "Us as players, we don't care about playing pretty football,” he said. “If you were to give us five games in a month and we were to play three of them badly but get nine points, we'd take it. It's always nice to play good football but it's a results-based business and we need the results to go and win the league.”