There is a fully understood rule of gambling. If you gamble and lose, you must pay. So, Celtic, you have gambled, you have lost, so who pays?
The Bhoys crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night despite holding a four-goal lead over Austrian champions LASK with just an hour of football remaining, plus extra time, as it turned out.
But they conceded the next five goals without reply and will now find themselves playing Europa League football.
There were disappointing performances aplenty, poor game management and many more factors, which have been covered in our coverage today, but what stands out above the rest for most fans is the board's clear failure to properly address the needs of this squad this summer.
Four good signings were made, but four was never going to be enough, and these qualifiers have not snuck up on anyone. The Bhoys have had since the end of the season in May to prepare on time for these games.
They knew they would lose Arne Engels this summer, and for £22million, no less, but decided not to buy a replacement for the Belgian, who was arguably the team's best player.
Why? Therein lies the gamble. Celtic paused their pursuit of Torino's Gvidas Gineitis until after the qualifiers, and they decided not to sign Niko Sigur in any kind of rush, the same goes for others.
The board clearly seemed to think they could get through these qualifiers without those signings and wait to see if they were guaranteed the big Champions League prize money before committing the funds.
They should have been right in a sense. Celtic should have seen out this win. But the question of quality remained even after the first leg, with LASK having had enough chances to at least draw the game, however dominant the scoreline looked.
And Celtic have started well in the league and cup, but Engels did play the first two league games. Not replacing him is astounding, and it's shameful from the board, borderline disrespectful even, that they thought they could qualify without addressing such a major need. It's the same at left-back, too, where there is just one senior player currently, and he - Kieran Tierney - had to go off with around half an hour remaining on Tuesday night.
The Celtic board gambled to try to make sure they had the money in the bank and they lost. When someone gambles, they have to pay, and someone should indeed be paying the price. Who? It should be whoever has been making the final call on recruitment this summer.
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