HEAVY rain on Thursday meant that taking the weans out into the wilds of South Lanarkshire for some fresh air and exercise during their October holiday proved impossible.
So we reverted to Plan B (eat your heart out Mark Warburton) and had a movie afternoon instead.
Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone – the new Adam Curtis docuseries which uses archive BBC footage to examine the collapse of communism in the old Soviet Union and demise of democracy in modern day Russia – was suggested as potential viewing.
But that proposal, like Vladimir Putin’s opponent in the last presidential elections, received zero votes.
So your correspondent ended up in his very own TraumaZone and was forced to sit through successive Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar animations.
Not even the KGB could have devised such torture.
Yet, Finding Nemo did, having been at Ibrox the previous evening and heard Rangers booed off the pitch after defeating Dundee and progressing to the Premier Sports Cup semi-final, raise a smile.
The average Light Blues supporter is displaying the same symptoms as Dory - the Royal Blue tang fish who suffers from anterograde amnesia and is unable to retain any piece of information for longer than five seconds - at the present moment in time.
The fans who are filleting manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst just now because of his team’s poor form and are agitating for a change in the dugout clearly have very short memories indeed.
That the Dutchman took the Glasgow giants to within a couple of penalty kicks of lifting only the second European trophy in their entire history in Seville back in May appears to have been completely forgotten.
The exhilarating and improbable defeats of Borussia Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade, Braga and RB Leipzig in the Europa League knockout rounds during their 150th anniversary season have, even though they were recorded earlier this year, been lost in the mists of time.
The win over Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden in April – a result which denied their city rivals their fifth domestic treble in six years - and the triumph over Hearts in the final in May have also been erased from the memory banks.
As for the Champions League play-off victory against PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands in August that banked a club which has posted huge losses for years tens of millions of pounds of income which had not been budgeted for? It is almost as if it never happened.
Football at the very highest level is a fickle business these days and management is an increasingly precarious profession. Past achievements count for very little, if anything at all, in an age when the outraged and offended have platforms online to air their views.
At Rangers, too, the man in charge is always only ever two games away from a crisis. The heavy and humiliating defeats to Celtic in the cinch Premiership and Ajax, Napoli and Liverpool in the Champions League group stages have pushed their followers over the edge.
They can accept their team losing to decent opposition if the players battle from kick-off to the final whistle. Their meek capitulations in those outings were completely unacceptable. For many, they showed the individual responsible for picking the team lacks the necessary motivational qualities and tactical nous required for his position.
But has it slipped their minds that Van Bronckhorst has been without Ben Davies, Filip Helander, Connor Goldson, John Souttar, Glen Kamara, Ryan Jack, Ianis Hagi, Tom Lawrence, Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe – defenders, midfielders and forwards who collectively cost in excess of £15m - this term?
Has it escaped their attention that Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey, who both put seasons of inconsistent play firmly behind them during the 2021/22 campaign and became two of Rangers’ outstanding performers at home and abroad, departed for sizeable fees in the summer?
Have the snipers in the stands and on social media just ignored the fact that their manager was, despite the sales of Aribo, Bassey and Nathan Paterson bringing in over £40m and a lucrative place in Europe’s elite club competition being secured, given little over £10m to spend to strengthen his squad?
Do they really expect centre half Leon King – an 18-year-old kid who probably still rather enjoys Finding Nemo – to be able to repel a front line that comprises Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Mo Salah and Roberto Firminio?
And who precisely do they think would do a better job? Would Robbie Neilson, Derek McInnes or Stephen Robinson transform their fortunes? There is not exactly a stand-out replacement waiting in the wings.
A draw or a loss to Livingston at Ibrox today will increase the pressure on Van Bronckhorst. As will another heavy loss against Napoli in Italy on Wednesday night. There is no margin for error.
But the former Champions League winner and World Cup finalist deserves time to turn things around given the off-field issues which he has had to contend with, patience from his employers given the budget he has had to work with and loyalty from supporters given the successes which he has previously presided over.
Only a Mickey Mouse club would sack their manager in such circumstances.
