Timing, they say, is everything.
After years of waiting, and one or two false alarms, Aberdeen FC found a new home – albeit one that has still to be built.
It was a saga that seemed to run longer than Coronation Street, though without the laughs.
Meanwhile, chairman Dave Cormack’s thoughts turn to which bank to rob for the £50m-plus required or whether Penn & Teller should be called in to conjure up the cash.
Now comes an intervention of sorts by Aberdeen City Council along the lines of: “There is a site available in the beach area. Why not build the new Pittodrie there?”
Have councillors collectively forgotten the consternation during the Dons’ fight for planning permission to build a new home in the Steppes of Westhill?
Hasn’t anybody wakened up to the news that Cormack and co have already forked out north of £12m for a super-duper training complex there?
Or that adjacent acres have been cleared of a family of snow leopards, a pair of Bactrian camels, six Tesco trolleys and thousands of tonnes of earth?
This alone was a major and costly operation, with fees to lawyers, architects and quantity surveyors – never mind the tea and sandwiches at the opening of Cormack Park.
“So,” foot soldiers of the Red Army might ask the city council, “do you expect the club to write off all that cash and move back into town?”
Many fans are still receiving counselling over the decision to move out of Pittodrie, a ground that’s been the home of good, bad and ugly football since 1899.
Has the council forgotten that once Covid clears, the club finds a buyer for Pittodrie (good luck with that), and flats nobody can afford are built, many of us will be dead?
There is also the not insignificant issue of how homeowners in the vicinity of the proposed new site will feel about having a football ground on their doorstep.
Ready for another planning battle, anyone?
Still, we’re not there yet.
Nor are we likely to be; unless somebody in the Town House has the bonkers idea of compensating the football club for their outlay so far.
The local authority recognises that having the Dons in town would be good for the city centre economy, although God forbid there are any thoughts of using council taxpayer money as some kind of sweetener.
We are not there to bring financial aid to a private company.
Such generosity should remain with directors, shareholders, AberDNA members, season ticket holders and contributors to the club’s RedTV channel.
This story may run a little while, though not as long as the box set that ended with AFC achieving their aim of leaving Pittodrie and re-settling off a dual carriageway at Kingsford.
What next for the SNP to handle very badly?
There seems to be an ever-increasing pile of paperwork on Nicola Sturgeon’s desk, all wrapped up in a “here’s stuff we handled badly” folder.
Education: Failed. Health: Failed. Alex Salmond Inquiry: Pending.
Talking up Indyref2: Passed with flying – blue and white – colours.
A committee of MSPs has been shining a light on the latest faux pas – an extremely expensive one – that centres on the two CalMac ferries for west coast routes that were scheduled for delivery in 2018.
Who will carry the can now that the £97 million deal with Ferguson Marine has doubled in price, with the boats not ready until 2022 and 2023 respectively?
“It’s not the SNP Government’s fault,” says Islands Minister Paul Wheelhouse, who did not accept the committee’s view that the whole shebang was a “catastrophic failure”.
I wonder how he would describe a shambles that will now cost the Scottish taxpayer the guts of £200m?
Maybe there’s a question or two there for Nicola Sturgeon next time she’s interviewed by Andrew Marr or Andrew Neil, neither of whom puts up with her desire to shy away from difficult queries.
In contrast, the political bods at BBC Scotland and STV appear to give her an easier time.
Clapped-out? I’d prefer clapped out!
I haven’t been this excited since I won 10 quid on the lottery in 2009.
I am, of course, referring to my upcoming, but as yet unconfirmed, dalliance with a needle and the vaccination which will protect me from Covid.
Why the anticipation?
Because I want to be clapped out – or clapped-out in my case – of the hospital, clinic, warehouse, garden shed or wherever at the completion of the procedure.
Just like I’ve seen on the TV news. I will be extremely disappointed if there isn’t a burst of applause to mark my bravery.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.