It took until 9pm on Friday for confirmation to arrive that Rangers' visit to Brechin City on Sunday would take place, which rather sums up Scottish football's chaotic state at present. Were the rest of Europe remotely interested, they would look on only in bemusement.
On the eve of the season for lower league clubs, supporters had been faced with uncertainty. In itself that represented little surprise: buck-passing and poor leadership, if not a lack of it altogether, has been glaring over a summer in which Rangers' demise triggered schisms and machinations.
The Rangers support stand accused of gullibility in not realising that their club was being so badly mismanaged, but even they are entitled to highlight how badly the subsequent situation – as the "old" club succumbed to liquidation – has been handled.
Rangers' problems and failings are well-documented. What is also clear is that Scottish football's setup remains deeply flawed when the troubles of one, albeit significant, club have such a severe impact on the wider scene.
Very few parties, including those charged with the fundamental task of ensuring a season starts in a straightforward manner, have emerged from this mess with credit. Neil Doncaster, the chief executive of the Scottish Premier League, and his counterpart at the Scottish Football Association, Stewart Regan, are among those whose credibility is understandably under question from paying customers.
A Rangers visit to Glebe Park for a cup tie is not a novel concept. It would be disrespectful to Brechin to label their home as dilapidated or anything of that sort. Brechin are one of the country's better-run clubs, even if they have been anxious to play Rangers, thereby receiving commercial benefit.
The first match for newco Rangers is in the Ramsdens Challenge Cup – a tournament for lower league teams – and carries an obvious significance. Not so long ago Rangers competed as routine in the Champions League.
Key players such as Allan McGregor, Steven Naismith and Steven Davis have departed Ibrox. It will be interesting to see how those who remain handle the rigours of lower league football and in what manner the Rangers following engage with it. On the field, it would register as a major surprise if Ally McCoist's team do not canter to the Third Division title. Insistence from Rangers' new owners that they will not sell a majority stake in the club to any party is curious, as is an apparent wish to sign players not affordable to any other Scottish club outside Celtic.
The Rangers public relations stance is that the club remain the same as ever, history intact, despite the fresh corporate identity created by liquidation. It would be an obvious stance were it not contradicted by insistence from within Ibrox that the club should not be retrospectively punished if found guilty of illegally registering players during use of the now infamous employee benefit trust scheme.
Rangers fans are bitter about what they perceive as unfair treatment from the football authorities, just as supporters of other clubs resent what they see as a negative influence of Glasgow's blue half on the game as a whole. The general atmosphere in Scottish football has never been more hostile.
The country's top tier is less than a week away from starting, with focus there attached to how clubs handle the impact of Rangers' absence and a reduced – if yet to be confirmed – broadcasting deal.
At elite level an obligation lies on fans to turn out to support their teams after those in boardrooms heeded strong public pressure to deny Rangers re-entry to the Premier League. It would be heartening if such a scenario occurred even though the reality is completely unknown. As in the bottom tier, the destination of the championship trophy is all but inevitable, with Celtic generally priced around 50-1 on to claim a second successive league flag.
The Old Firm are now operating on completely different levels. That, if little else, can be said with certainty as a new season dawns.
