Another week spent dodging ever more dire warnings about the state of Scottish football.
This time everything's got a lot Grimmer with Aberdeen losing a lauded protégé to the mysterious land of riches that some people call England.
Highly rated youngster leaves Aberdeen area to chance his arm in England?

Day nine of the SPL Advent. Motherwell, the success story of the season so far.
What were we to expect from Motherwell this SPL season?
Stuart McCall's arrival to replace Craig Brown raised more of a shrug of the shoulders than a cheer last season.
But he impressed in taking the team to the Scottish Cup final, an achievement that raised intriguing possibilities about how he'd fare with a close season behind him.

In the run up to Christmas the Scottish Football Blog is taking a daily look at the season so far for the 12 SPL clubs.
And what they might hope to find in their stockings.
Alphabetically at least Aberdeen are number one.
Woe seems to hang over Pittodrie like a particularly clingy North Sea haar at the moment.

Midnight. Halfway through. Normal people might be thinking about bed. Or working up to cutting some moves. Or getting enough drink in them to make a mistimed, ill-judged and futile pass at someone they've spotted across the bar.
And I'm gearing up for a night of football chat. If you've been out, got back and have some change kicking about in your pockets it would be very, very gratefully received.

Monday night football.
When I was a slip of lad approaching drinking age Monday night football used to be a thing of wonder.
(Drinking age, kids, used to be more of a general guide than a rule. Don't live as I lived. It's bad for you.)
We'd gather around what we then thought were big screens and be stunned as Newcastle and Liverpool served up seven goal thrillers and Sky's hype levels left our skies and bothered Martian moons.

A tortuous night following Hibs' league cup win against Motherwell from afar.
They got there in the end, the dramatic cruelty of the penalty shoot-out and all that.
The "real" Hibs, said a relieved Colin Calderwood. But they were minutes away from another defeat.
Cometh the approaching final whistle, cometh the man.

What madness is this?
Do I detect a hint of confidence creeping around this Scotland squad?
I feel I do.
So let us pause a while and pay some small tribute to the still oft maligned Craig Levein.
The disaster of the 4-6-0 formation in the away tie against Czech Republic.

Players to watch in Scotland 2011-12 is a post from: Just Football

Here's a few players plying their trade in Scottish football who, for one reason or another, are worth keeping an eye out for this season:

Shaun Hutchinson (Motherwell)

The 20 year-old central defender was brought to Fir Park by Jim Gannon but was frozen out during Craig Brown's time in charge.

Players to watch in Scotland 2011-12 is a post from: Just Football

Here's a few players plying their trade in Scottish football who, for one reason or another, are worth keeping an eye out for this season:

Shaun Hutchinson (Motherwell)

The 20 year-old central defender was brought to Fir Park by Jim Gannon but was frozen out during Craig Brown's time in charge.

Forgive the Tartan Army should they be slightly pessimistic about Scotland's chances of qualification following the draw for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. While Three Lions supporters expect to see England qualify, only to bow out in the quarterfinals or encounter heartache over phantom goals and botched penalties, Scottish supporters have not seen Saint Andrew's Cross fly in the World Cup since 1998.

Completing the triangle of opening Saturday fixtures, Stuart McCall's Motherwell host Terry Butcher's Inverness.
The gameTerry Butcher says his team aren't ready. Brutal honesty or bluffing banditry? We'll find out soon enough.
Motherwell lost a Scottish Cup final in their last competitive appearance.

The second of Saturday's three games and a look at what's in store for Aberdeen and St Johnstone.
The game
I've a feeling both these sides will have been quite happy with the opening day's fixtures. A home game for Aberdeen and an away trip that won't overly scare St Johnstone.
Opening games often have a tentative, feet finding atmosphere and this one seems set up to be exactly that.

Part one of an entirely prejudiced, unscientific look at 12 players I'll be keeping track of in the SPL this season. Maybe not the biggest stars but a player from each team whose progress I'm interested to follow.
Steven Naismith, Rangers
Steven Naismith turns 25 this September. No longer a kid bursting with potential but a senior member of a championship winning squad with a five year contract under his belt.

Ah, Scottish footballing optimism returns with the faint whiff of a trophy to play for.
Scotland resume their Carling Nations Cup campaign against Wales in Dublin this evening.
A win for Craig Levein's side will set up a title decider against the Republic of Ireland - who thrashed Northern Irelad 5-0 last night - on Sunday.

Pittodrie. A cold (I suspect it was cold, it usually is) October afternoon in 1998. Scotland are enduring one of their periodic clashes with the Faroe Islands.
A 2-0 lead, the goals from Craig Burley and Billy Dodds, had lasted from the cusp of half time until the 79th minute.
At that stage Craig Brown chose to introduce our latest forgotten Scotland player.

Aberdeen v Celtic.
Four games so far this season and Celtic have racked up an aggregate score of 17-1. They probably just edge it as favourites today.
Coming into the weekend this was seen as the semi-final that would likely turn out the more one sided affair. Then marvellous Motherwell led the sorry Saints on a first half dance at Hampden yesterday.

One word from a dozen managers to sum up the SPL this weekend:
Aberdeen 5 v 0 KilmarnockCraig Brown: "Pleasing."
Mixu Paatelainen: "Farcical."
Hearts 2 v 1 Dundee UnitedJim Jefferies: "Determination."
Peter Houston: "Cruel."
Inverness 2 v 0 St JohnstoneTerry Butcher: "Effort.

Hope everyone is recovering from the disgustingly addictive drug that is transfer deadline day.
I'm just about over the disappointment that neither Chelsea or Liverpool thought I was worth a punt. The agent is being sacked today.
Taking slightly longer to recover from the news that Hibs have signed a striker.

Was it really only a couple of months ago that Aberdeen and Celtic met in Glasgow and produced the SPL's most one sided result?
That 9-0 walloping seems a long time ago now.
It's hard to claim that Celtic have enjoyed a regal procession to the top of the league since then. They haven't, there has been the odd faltering step along the way.

Snippets from a radio interview on Wednesday night seemed to offer a glimpse of the dualism of Craig Brown's career.
First there was the promise of a new signing at the start of next week. An English Premier League player no less, set to feature in the FA Cup this weekend before moving north on loan.

Five games, five traditional kick off times.
This is what Neil Doncaster's ten team SPL could look like if everything is as bad as feared and Sky and ESPN run screaming for the hills.
Celtic v Aberdeen
The last time Aberdeen visited Celtic they were sent home humiliated and robbed of their dignity.

Football seems to have a hold on those involved that many of us don't experience in our working lives. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that I've been daydreaming about my retirement since about second year at school.
Football managers are different. They just keep going and going.