Kieran Maguire believes that former Celtic chief executive Dominic McKay realised he'd walked into a 'complete lunatic asylum' before departing the club. 

The football finance expert was speaking to Football Insider when he made the damning comment.

The lowdown

McKay left his post less than three months after taking over from the long-serving Peter Lawwell, with 'personal reasons' cited as the official explanation for his premature exit.

Michael Nicholson, formerly the club's director of legal affairs, has taken up the role of CEO on an interim basis.

The latest

Maguire thinks that McKay, who was previously the chief operating officer at Scottish Rugby, was left alarmed by 'the size of the task'.

Celtic had lost the Premiership title to arch-rivals Rangers by a whopping 25 points, manager Neil Lennon had left in February and club captain Scott Brown also moved on.

"I suspect McKay has realised he has walked into a complete lunatic asylum," Maguire told Football Insider.

The football finance expert added: "The size of the task could take more than 12 months to sort out. The one thing you never have in Scotland is time."

The verdict

It should be noted that the existing Celtic hierarchy, for their part, were reportedly unimpressed by McKay. He is said to have made an 'inauspicious impression' in the early weeks of his new job and quickly been deemed an 'imperfect fit' for the role (via The Celtic Way).

Whatever the circumstances, this was a failure of an appointment. Lawwell had first spoken to chairman Ian Bankier about the possibility of retiring in 2020, so the club had plenty of time to pick out an ideally-suited successor.

That recruitment process now looks to have been something of a sham.

In other news, Ian Bankier's potential replacement has emerged.