Derek McInnes has been used to challenging club records in his Aberdeen tenure, including some set by the very, very best.
But all of a sudden, in this unexpectedly yet undeniably dysfunctional start to 2020, it is those unwanted ones at the opposite end of the spectrum to which his side is laying claim.
Hot on the heels of equalling the club’s longest-ever run of matches without scoring, this side now owns a share of the record for consecutive home league defeats contained within a single season.
Only in the depths of Steve Paterson’s ill-fated spell, and at the unforgettably comical start to Ebbe Skovdahl’s reign, had any Aberdeen manager ever overseen four straight league losses at Pittodrie without the interruption of a close season.
Those are two predecessors that only a month ago McInnes would never have imagined being mentioned in the same sentence.
On this occasion there were extenuating circumstances, but even the early expulsion of Dean Campbell was in some ways symptomatic of Aberdeen’s recent somnambulism.
Both were what those inside the game would refer to as lazy – intentionally and unnecessarily stopping an opponent’s attack by foul means rather than relying on the team’s drill to do so by natural means.
There is no shortcut to success which trumps a strong strategy, assiduously formulated, absorbed and minutely executed, but at present it is hard to ascertain what Aberdeen’s plan is.
When you invest so much in midfield recruitment yet find Curtis Main playing there for almost an hour – even in extremis – something is going wrong.
McInnes has more credit in the bank than Paterson or Skovdahl but he needs to start replenishing his balance.