Few clubs’ fortunes have been so closely matched in recent times as those of Aberdeen and Hibernian.
Up and down the table, from the top half to the bottom, they have travelled together as if tied at the ankle for a school sports day.
The thing about a three-legged race, of course, is that it permits neither participant to run at full speed, and rarely have these teams hit a consistent stride.
That both have routinely failed to explore their potential of late is demonstrated by the quite astounding fact that Peter Leven and Nick Montgomery yesterday became the 11th different pair of managers to shake hands on this fixture in its last 14 league stagings.
That will become 12 in 15 when Jimmy Thelin arrives next season to begin a project described as requiring time, and in that regard it may be useful for the Dons to have the yardstick of their co-sufferers.
Whether Montgomery survives to be Thelin’s first adversary in this rivalry is a subject of increasingly stormy debate in Leith, and whichever way the wind eventually blows it will provide Aberdeen with a medium-term forecast of their own.
Either Hibs will hold their nerve and demonstrate whether there is indeed a harvest to be made of exotically sourced seeds tended with patience, or they will climb the fence once more and report back on the relative greenness of the grass.
Whichever lane they choose, each of these two clubs will be hoping that next season will be the one where they are able to unshackle themselves and sprint off towards the line.
For the Dons, the hope is that it is less three-legged race and more egg and spoon – and that Thelin is the thumb that holds theirs in place while others crack all around them.