Given that his observations came before the birth of social media, who knows how Mark Twain would have felt about the pace with which something with a loose connection to the truth can solidify into hard fact with one click of a keyboard.

If a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes then by the time it gets to the hornets nest of the internet, the inaccuracy has already become a received wisdom.

The lament this week, brought to the fore when Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers lit a fuse with his with his public criticisms, was towards a parsimonious board hanging onto their old biscuit tin mentality.

It does not entirely stand up to scrutiny.

The money generated from two successive group stages of the Champions League helped to pay the club record fee of £9m for Odsonne Edouard. It kept Tom Rogic and Kieran Tierney at the club on extended, lucrative deals. The hybrid pitch that cost the club £1.5m has been delivered. The club’s wage bill is up almost 40% since Rodgers’ arrival at Celtic. Travel arrangements have been overhauled at the request of the manager, Lennoxtown has been rejigged to accommodate specific wishes.

Is Rodgers right to ask for more? Of course he is. There isn’t a manager in the country who doesn’t want more, who won’t ask to push the boat out to strengthen their squad.

But timing is everything. On the eve of a Champions League qualifier, games which essentially set the entire tone of Celtic’s season, laying bare the discord seemed strategic. If the club fail to make it into the group stages for a third successive campaign, there will be only one dartboard for the support’s anger.

Rodgers' criticism came on the back of a week in which John McGinn became a pawn in the midst of a public and increasingly fractious chasm between boardroom and dressing room.

The manner in which McGinn’s transfer from Hibs to Aston Villa played out did not reflect well on Celtic. It left them looking complacent and contemptuous. If they regret how it unfolded now it is nothing to how they may feel in 18 months time when the likelihood is that he is a player whom they will not be able to afford.

Rodgers was well within his rights to be irked. But what was lost amidst it all was the fact that the Celtic manager could not offer regular first-team football to a player whom Steve Bruce has told he will build his team around. Is there a chance that the boat was not pushed out for McGinn by the board because their belief was that he would not play much, at least this season?

Granted, if Celtic had been swift in the first place it might not have got to the stand-off it became.

Rodgers is right, too, to lament the fact that there seems to be a perennial shortage of options when it comes to the Champions League qualifiers.

There is a need for quality at the back. It has been an obvious achilles heel for the club for successive seasons, particularly at this time of year.

But there is a question amidst that too. More than once it has been said that January is the most important transfer window for that very reason. For the fact that players can be introduced gradually to the club, assimilate and find their feet in what is often a new culture, a new way of playing.

So who takes responsibility for Charly Musonda and Marvin Compper?

Neither cost money in terms of a transfer fee. But like the rest of us they did not roll out of bed every day and report for work for the sheer joy of it. They were well remunerated for their presence, significantly in Musonda’s case.

Rodgers declined to answer when pressed on whether or not he felt he had been backed by the Celtic board, leading to an obvious inference.

No-one could possibly quibble with Rodgers and what he has done. Off the pitch he has been an impressive figurehead for Celtic; articulate, charming, assured and cognisant of the culture around the club he has been generous with his time for the Celtic foundation.

On the pitch he improved players he inherited, delivered everything expected and added a swagger to go with it.

That he is deserving of his place and status at the club is not up for debate.

But the tone and undercurrent of this week seemed to point to a significant shift. And this week’s second leg qualifier against Athens, already tie tipped in the AEK's favour, has taken on a weighty significance for all involved.