As he wound up his weekly press conference at Lennoxtown last Friday, Martin O’Neill gave his customary update on Celtic’s walking wounded.

Kasper Schmeichel hadn’t made the past four match day squads, but there appeared to be a reasonable chance the Dane might play some part against Motherwell.

‘He’s much, much better now,’ said the manager. ‘He trained today and he didn’t feel his shoulder. It’s feeling much better after the injection.’

As we now know, however, Schmeichel wasn’t feeling better enough to actually participate in the match.

Fast forward four days and the veteran was standing alongside his father Peter in their roles as pundits on CBS Sports Golazo.

Within just a few moments, the 39-year-old effectively acknowledged that his football career was over.

Kasper Shcmeichel revealed this week that his career is as good as over because of a shoulder injury requiring two surgeries

‘I was at a specialist yesterday and basically I’m going to need two surgeries now to fix my shoulder, which is a bit of a body blow,’ he stated.

‘It’s a torn bicep, I’ve torn the rotator cuff, dislocated the shoulder, torn the labrum – torn everything.

‘To put it into terms you’d maybe understand, it’s like an outfield player doing their ACL and their Achilles at the same time.’

There was a lot to unpack there, and a great deal of explaining required. To the uninitiated, this sounded like the sort of damage you might do if you fell off a motorbike.

Yet, a few days previously, the media – and, by extension, Celtic supporters – had been told there wasn’t that much amiss.

So, we’d jumped from the brink of Schmeichel returning from injury to the brink of Schmeichel retiring in the space of a few days. Something just doesn’t add up here.

Is it remotely possible that his system had been so awash with analgesics that he just wasn’t aware of the extent of the problem? Perhaps. But, surely, he would have realised all was not well when he dragged his ageing limbs out of bed in the morning?

Even if he was able to somehow put mind over matter, wouldn’t his impairment have been obvious to the Celtic backroom staff and, consequently, ruled him out of a crucial game?

Schmeichel was severely criticised for his performance in defeat to Stuttgart

Given what we know now, it’s bewildering that there was even a hint of Schmeichel being able to participate against the Steelmen. 

There was nothing to be gained by O’Neill talking up his chances of featuring if he didn’t feel there would be a realistic shot at it. He must have relied on the keeper’s word that he was good to go.

The most perplexing matter of all, though, is why the severity of the issue was only established on Monday of this week.

Schmeichel’s physical condition has been an issue for a year, and it’s been debated increasingly this season as high-profile errors have crept into his game.

These days, football players have scans on bumps and strains as matters of routine. Medical departments don’t take any chances when approving an individual to play in a game in case it exacerbates a problem.

It seems extraordinary then, that the full extent of the 39-year-old’s condition could go undetected for so long. 

Maybe it happened partly because the man in question didn’t want to hear bad news.

To be clear about this, professional players often do play with knocks. They pop painkillers and take injections to proceed with minor injuries. They grit their teeth and get on with it. But nothing like what Schmeichel was evidently carrying pre-Motherwell.

Was he kidding himself on, hoping against hope that he could get back into the Celtic side and still play for Denmark at the World Cup should they qualify through the play-offs? Or did he mask the full extent of how he was feeling?

The Dane has admitted that his appearance against Hibs last month may well be his last

There’s a world of difference between soldiering on for the good of the team and playing down a problem for your own personal benefit.

Only Schmeichel can say where his circumstances sit on that scale, but many supporters of Denmark and Celtic have already formed their own view.

It’s fair to say that revealing all on TV without even referencing the club who pay his wages hasn’t gone down too well with the Parkhead faithful. 

You can hardly blame them. Chris Sutton described Schmeichel’s behaviour as ‘selfish’ and few are minded disputing that. This wasn’t a good look.

This story actually starts a year ago. Denmark were in Lisbon for a Nations League game against Portugal.

With their slender first-leg lead wiped out, the match went to extra-time. 

The Danes made five substitutions in 90 minutes, and another thereafter. So, when Schmeichel fell awkwardly and hurt himself in a clash with Diogo Jota in the first period of extra-time, he had to carry on.

Portugal eventually won 5-3 on aggregate. Despite being sidelined because of playing on while injured, the fall-out for Schmeichel was savage.

An editorial in one Danish paper claimed that ‘he stands on his line and, at the last moment, runs out and punches like a polio-stricken child’.

Denmark’s PFA boss Michael Sahl Hansen demanded an apology. The journalist concerned told him it wouldn’t be happening.

Back at Celtic, Viljami Sinisalo was asked to hold the fort as the Dane recovered. The Finn did well in his seven matches, but found himself back on the bench for the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen.

Schmeichel working with dad Peter for CBS at this week’s Manchester City-Real Madrid game

With Celtic leading, Schmeichel had little to do until he turned a cross into his own net. The game went to penalties. He didn’t save any as the Dons won the trophy. Suddenly, the decision to take up the option of another year on his contract didn’t seem like quite such a bright idea.

Strong in his defence of the player in pre-season, Brendan Rodgers appeared to be vindicated when Schmeichel started the campaign with six clean sheets. However, the matter soon resurfaced.

Culpable as Ricardo Horta scored for Braga with a tame shot from distance, Schmeichel then did nothing to prevent St Mirren from scoring three times in the League Cup final after Wilfried Nancy had entered the equation.

Then came a pitiful attempt to prevent Mikey Moore netting Rangers’ third goal in a 3-1 win at Parkhead at the start of this year in what proved to be Nancy’s final match in charge.

Schmeichel’s form was no better after O’Neill returned for a second time. He lost another preventable goal in Bologna. Celtic’s last-gasp win at Kilmarnock couldn’t hide the fact that he had been suspect as Joe Hugill’s header looped over him.

Schmeichel has since been replaced as Celtic No1 by Sinisalo, above left, but questions remain about the Dane’s removal from the equation

And then came Stuttgart, a night when his disastrous display in a 4-1 loss saw him booed by some supporters who had seen an accident waiting to happen. This wasn’t a man out of form. It was a near 40-year-old man who was out of time.

O’Neill publicly defended his keeper, played him in the home defeat against Hibs, but benched him for the return leg in Germany.

Having been recalled, Sinisalo delivered a statement display as Celtic won the second leg and retained his spot for the league game at Ibrox (for which Schmeichel was ill). The Finn hasn’t look back.

Starting at Tannadice on Sunday, Sinisalo will play in Celtic’s eight remaining league matches and the Scottish Cup. 

A dependable presence, he is everything that Schmeichel hasn’t been for a long time. The certainty of selection might yet allow Celtic to cling on to their title.

As we now realise, Schmeichel is done at Celtic and won’t play for Denmark in the World Cup under Brian Riemer should they get there.

But his removal from the equation isn’t the end of the matter or, indeed, the questions that are being asked. One lingers large. 

Why did four different managers, Rodgers, O’Neill, Nancy and Riemer, continue to select him for so long when all the available evidence suggested something was badly wrong?