This time last year, Scotland manager Craig Levein returned from the world cup 2014 qualifying fixtures meeting. Judging by his demeanour at the time, it's fair to assume Levein was content with his lot - particular emphasis, we were told, had been placed on getting off to a good start in the forthcoming campaign, and two home games against teams considered to be among the weaker sides in the group fitted that bill nicely.
Two wins in three, three in four if you count the Community Shield, Manchester City have made a decent start to their first ever Premier League title defence. With this early season form in mind, it would be easy to forget that City have carried a relatively off colour David Silva as well as being without the goal scoring prowess of Sergio Agüero and Mario Balotelli. The reason these absences haven’t really been felt? That would be Mr Carlos Tévez.
Back in the day, it was customary growing up as a football fan in Scotland to have an English team to support. It didn’t matter a jot which Scottish team you preferred, you had to declare an allegiance to a club south of the border if you wanted to be part of the in-crowd.
As the transfer window prepares to slam shut until 2013, managers all over Europe are putting the finishing touches to their squads for this season. While there is still plenty of business to be done, a lot of the so-called inevitable transfers have already taken place.
A few weeks have yet to come and go before the autumn leaves begin to lie thick and still, but you can’t help but feel that the Scottish football season has already offered sufficient glimpses to enable a solid prediction to be made of what lies in store between now and next May.