Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson must resign or be sacked if the club fails to qualify for the Champions League for a second consecutive season and an inability to manipulate the transfer window is a contributing factor.
Nicholson, a lawyer by profession, should understand right from wrong, innocence from guilt. A man on eye-watering wages cannot keep delivering jaw-dropping failure without consequences. That is natural justice.
The chief executive cannot simultaneously be the chief impediment to financial gain – and missing out on the Champions League in successive seasons would amount to a colossal loss of revenue.
Board not to blame for Dundee display
LASK, from Austria, could become a four-letter word if anything goes wrong at home next week in the first leg of the Champions League qualifying round. But Nicholson does not carry every can.
Celtic stunk out the place in the first game of the defence of their title against Dundee last Monday night, something most people would have thought impossible. It had nothing to do with the much-maligned and openly-detested board.
For the first time in a long time, there was no point directing anger at the directors' box. What has it got to do with Nicholson if strikers can't strike, wingers can't cross, and half the team passes backwards? To score a goal, you need to be in the opposition's half instead of giving your keeper more touches than anybody else.
Why would you want the board sacked when Cameron Carter-Vickers was told in the dressing-room that he had passed to Viljami Sinisalo more than any other team-mate? On this occasion, the board had to be given a free pardon.
Players should be capable of beating Kilmarnock
If the side who played Dundee, unarguably the strongest XI at the club's disposal, cost tens of millions to put together and were so poor against a team worth the proverbial two-bob by comparison, whose fault is that? Not anybody in a suit.
Martin O'Neill chose to come back for a second season instead of going into the sunset with an astonishing league-and-cup Double. That is his prerogative. If fans' goodwill diminishes over performance levels, that is their prerogative.
The players Celtic have to choose from ought to be capable of a win at Kilmarnock on Sunday. If not in Martin's honour in his absence, out of respect for what he made of them in the midst of relentless confusion last season.
Hospital pass for the board
If Celtic can't beat Neil McCann's team, that is their fault and nothing to do with a dilatory directorate who would give a sloth a bad name. But, having given the board a free pass for last Monday, the next ball they get will be a hospital pass – and if they don't control it properly, nothing can save them.
Nicholson and company will be in the LASK chance saloon if Celtic replicate the calamity that was Kairat Almaty, home and away, a year ago. Quality being sold without adequate replacements can happen once. If it happens twice, that is maladministration.
The CEO is habitually accused of unfathomable work practices, reviled, rebuked and reproached in quick succession. The question Celtic supporters want to ask is simple: what does Michael actually do when he goes to work every day?
Two apologies would insult fans
A year ago, the hierarchy apologised for mishandling the transfer window and going to Kazakhstan not as prepared as they ought to have been for Almaty. Two apologies in a row would insult the supporters' intelligence.
LASK have only won one of their last 14 European ties in all competitions and finished 35th in the Conference League last season. You would need to be tone deaf to use that as an excuse to try and bluff your way into the Champions League without adding new players in sensitive areas.
And you'd need to be honest with yourself and admit your time was up as chief executive if the ducking-and-diving routine caught you out once again. Any attempt to assume the Austrians are an easy touch would be grounds for summary dismissal.
