When a manager arrives, under somewhat contentious circumstances, billed as the overseer of a sharpened focus on in-house development, it is an open invitation for the mischievous fingers of fate to intervene.
That it should fall to Stephen Glass, the proclaimed sustainability tsar, to select the first Aberdeen XI since the 1940s without a single player whose first professional ball was kicked in its colours is an ironic misfortune, although it must be noted that it is not one for which he is to blame.
It is Glass, don’t forget, who has constructed a compelling full-back pairing out of parts which lay unused in his predecessor’s garage.
That both they, and Andy Considine – who had ticked the academy graduate box effortlessly for a decade and a half – are injured simultaneously is sheer ill luck.
Nevertheless, when a squad springs gaps ahead of a testing fixture and the players trusted to fill them are of the profile of Jack Gurr, it is a reminder that to become a club heavily dependent upon its own products is not a short-term task.
Changes to strategies and pathways in youth systems will take years to filter through to the senior teamsheet.
With that in mind, it is perhaps folly to allow a hire to be conspicuously tied to such an ambition, for there is no guarantee he will last to see it.
Whatever work is going on under the surface, clubs will always need to see acceptable results at the top level, and after Aberdeen’s losing streak ended with a barely expected seven-point bonanza they are now back to three straight losses.
This was far from their poorest performance in them, but if they don’t start taking points quickly the club will need to turn all attention to what is unfolding in the here and now.
