There is a popular GIF that I am sure many of you have used or been sent on your phones, which features an American child actor of the 1930s called Spanky McFarland.
In it, young Spanky is sitting down, looking bored, and impatiently drumming his fingers on a table-top.
That two-second black and white clip perfectly captures the current mood of Dons fans.
It is now almost three weeks since the Neil Warnock fiasco ended, almost as long since the club put out its ‘Football Review Update’ telling us priority was being given to appointing a new manager, and that interviews were about to begin with a shortlist of serious candidates.
This is either going to be the most extensively and rigorously researched managerial appointment the game has seen, or the club has had a series of knockbacks from those they had identified as their top targets.
Born #OTD 1928.Spanky McFarland,Star of the "Little Rascals"and "Our Gang"Shorts and Movies.#comedy #Hollywood #1930s #spanky
— Tom's Old Days (@sigg20) October 2, 2022
In some ways, I cannot blame Dave Cormack for taking his time; he knows, as we all do, that he cannot afford to get this one wrong, but I do not understand why the club felt the need initially to say anything at all regarding the search.
All that did was heighten expectations, and those intensified last weekend with the suggestion that the new man was about to be unveiled.
As it turned out, there were no developments; the wait went on.
No managerial appointment is without its inherent risks, as the chairman has found out to his cost.
When installing a new boss, it seems to me the most important factor is to minimise those, to do your homework, to get the man you believe gives you the best possible opportunity of success.
That is something the chairman has, unfortunately, so far failed to do, and perhaps that is why this one seems to be taking so long.
Stephen Glass was clearly a risky choice, Jim Goodwin should have been less so, but the job was too big for him, and Barry Robson also came to the post with little or no managerial experience.
Warnock had plenty of that, but was patently unsuited to be Dons boss, and his hiring will go down as one of the most reckless appointments the club will ever make.
I stated my case last week that the next incumbent should be one who knows Scottish football inside out, someone who well understands its vagaries and peculiarities. I know others have a different view, are open to the thought of a continental coach, but as I highlighted last Saturday, there is no historical evidence – other than at the very top – that foreign managers can cope with the demands of our game.
Various names have come to the fore, the bookies have installed a succession of favourites for the post, but there has been no official word from within, and like most people, I have no idea who will ultimately get the job.
On Thursday, Alan Burrows told Red TV the search has entered its “very final stages”, so we might, at long last, almost be there.
In the meantime, like Spanky, we just have to drum our fingers and wait.
Worrying form for national team
With Scotland currently enduring the worst run of results since Steve Clarke was appointed, the prospect of Euro 2024 this summer does not feel quite as exciting as it did just a few short months ago.
For the first half of last year the side was playing a high-tempo game, the players full of energy and confidence as they reeled off five successive wins to clinch our place at the finals.
That has dissipated, the defence has been fragile and vulnerable, and we look blunt in attack, having failed to score in each of last week’s friendlies.
Following the loss to Northern Ireland, the players, who not so long ago were being held up as national heroes, were booed from the Hampden pitch.
It has been a sudden, unexpected fall from grace, and the manager has just two more outings, against Gibraltar and Finland, to turn it around ahead of the Euro opener against Germany. He will have much to ponder over the next three months.