The world has changed considerably since Steve Clarke last took charge of his Scotland side.
Given what has gone on over the past few weeks, a sense of perspective has settled over the progress of our national team, like a huge dark cloud.
What seemed back then like the most important thing on the planet – qualification for a Qatar 2022 – now feels like an almost grubby, completely out of kilter wish at a moment when real-life carnage is being unleashed against the nation that stands in Clarke ’s way.
Albeit a little awkwardly, the Scotland manager has to get on about his own job of planning for a match that probably will never happen against a country with a more important matters on its mind.
No such worries existed back at the end of last year when Clarke and his players were riding high into the play-offs, off the back of a stunning run of results. Now, rather than take on Ukraine next week for a place at the World Cup, they will take part in a fundraising friendly against neighbours Poland, in the hope of adding significant cash to the ongoing humanitarian effort on the ground.
Against such an appalling backdrop of human tragedy and suffering, the loss of Scotland’s feel-good factor is a casualty we can all live with.
But, nevertheless, it’s the manager’s job to bring it back.
“Yeah, we were in a good place in November,” nods Clarke with a reference to happier times.
“The run of six wins was good. To finish here with a win against a good Danish team and another full house at Hampden? Everyone was excited and looking forward to the play-off game. It was a great place to be.
“But circumstances have changed so we have to adapt a little bit and we will adapt this month in sporting terms by playing two friendly matches.
“We’ll just try to keep improving. Hopefully we can hold on to our unbeaten run and try to keep a bit of momentum going into the June games.”
What that end of season schedule looks like remains up in the air. FIFA and UEFA have been left to make things up as they go along to accommodate the consequences of the ongoing crisis.
It could be Scotland are asked to play six games in one month to fulfil their scheduled fixtures - a scenario Clarke is not prepared to swallow on the grounds of fairness and player welfare.
But, in the meantime, the man in charge is looking forward to getting his group back together again and hoping, as soon as they are, everything will fall back into place.
He went on: “I hope so. Obviously I’ve been in touch with one or two of them over the long break and the general feeling is that they want to get back together and see their mates, catch up a little bit and start preparing for the games coming up.”
And yet there are issues to resolve.
Back in November, Nathan Patterson was the breakthrough kid with the world at his feet and a £16m move to Everton on the horizon.
Now Patterson may be in need of a cuddle, having left Rangers only to find himself even more frozen out of first team football than he already was but with a team which is hurtling towards relegation and under new management.
No surprise then that Aaron Hickey - a Serie A standout at Bologna - has been included in Clarke’s squad, despite previously turning down call ups for the under 19s and 21s under strict and misguided instruction from his father.
Clarke has brought the former Hearts youngster in to stiffen up his options at right back with doubts persisting over Patterson’s form and confidence.
The manager nods: “Hickey is adaptable. I’ve seen him playing a couple of games off the right for Bologna and he did okay. He can play off the left. In our group he’s obviously got competition with the captain Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney in front of him.
“As for Nathan, He’s had almost nothing in terms of game time. It would have been difficult to think about playing Nathan in a really competitive match like a play-off semi-final.
“But this is an opportunity to get some minutes into his legs which will be good for us and good for Nathan. Hopefully, he performs so well that he makes Frank pick him for Everton. I know Frank well and I’ve had a little conversation with him about Nathan but obviously Frank is in a situation where he is scrapping for points to stay in the Premier League.
“I’d like to think, if Nathan came into the team and hit the levels we know he can hit, that he’ll maybe get a bit more game time for Everton between now and the end of the season.”
And then there’s the Ryans - Jack and Fraser - but shared first names are perhaps all they have in common right now.
Clarke can’t wait to get one of them back after a prolonged injury. The other one will have to wait, after not being quite as injured as he claimed to be when he pulled out of the last squad. In fact, it could be a long way back from Newcastle for Ryan Fraser.
Clarke says: “I had a really good conversation with Ryan Fraser. He apologised for the way it turned out in November.
“I decided not to pick him for this camp but I’ve told him that his performances for Newcastle will determine whether he’s selected for any ongoing squads. That’s how we left that one.
“He said sorry so that’s normally a sign that someone accepts that they didn’t deal with the situation properly.”
On the contrary, when asked of a recall for Rangers linchpin Jack, Clarke could not have been more complimentary saying: “I never really had any doubts about Ryan because of his character. I know what he’s like and I obviously spoke to him a couple of times over his prolonged period out.
“He was an integral part of the team that qualified for Euro 2020. That he couldn’t make it was disappointing for me but probably devastating for Ryan.
“So to come back and hit the ground running? Normally, if someone is out for six months injured it takes a similar length of time before they get back to their best. Ryan was out for the best part of a year and he’s come back at his normal level.
“That’s credit to the work that he did over his rehab period and the fact he has such a strong mental attitude that he can be such a key player for Rangers and hopefully for Scotland going forward.”
