An arithmetical update. Aberdeen are now as many points short of the last possible European spot as they are clear of the very foot of the table.
Even the top six is as far from their reach as they are from the current inhabitants of the playoff position.
Forget any hope of rescuing anything positive from this league campaign. That lightning is not going to strike twice.
Winless in eight since the winter break, Aberdonian sky-watchers might instead be licking their pencils and starting to note the meteorite of relegation becoming visible over Pittodrie.
It should not make landfall. But it will not be averted without action, and that must be taken quickly.
It is not hard to imagine a scenario in which a poorly-constructed and unbalanced squad, confidence draining and publicly scorned by a manager who has no practical stake in their success, sleepwalks into the danger zone before it notices the signs.
Particularly when that manager has professed that it does not contain the type of players he knows what to do with, but he was hired too late for different ones to be signed off other clubs’ books.
Almost everything that the club has done from the appointment of Neil Warnock onwards has made it seem as if it thinks failure to meet seasonal targets is the worst that can happen.
It is unlikely that relegation has been considered a remotely relevant concept, and to some extent there is merit in trying to prevent thoughts and deeds from being infected by it.
But there is no value in allowing pride to come before a fall into a lower division.
The risk must be acknowledged, and the best method of combatting it implemented without delay.
No messing around, no fun. Get what needs doing done, and move on.