As Rangers drew 1-1 with Kilmarnock on October 25, the board of the Ibrox club were drawn to the unavoidable conclusion that they had made a mistake in appointing Pedro Caixinha as manager barely six months earlier.
The Portuguese survived less than 24 hours after the draw with the bottom side in the Premiership, yet had Rangers been quicker to act, they might have been able to lure the man in the opposite technical area.
Taking to the dugout for Killie that night for the first time was Steve Clarke, who had been hastily appointed after the club made a wretched start to the season and Lee McCulloch.
The Rugby Park outfit had achieved just one league win all season before Jose Mourinho’s former assistant at Chelsea unexpectedly took the reins of his hometown club, seeking a route back into top-level football after being sacked by West Brom then Reading.
Clarke, who has experience at some of Britain’s biggest clubs, including Liverpool and Newcastle, has made no secret that he has returned with a point to prove.
“I feel like I've not really had the credit I deserve for the manager job I did at West Bromwich Albion,” he argued as spoke to the press after his appointment.
“I took them to their highest ever finish in the Premier League [eighth], which was quite good. The following season for reasons unbeknown to me they decided to make a quick change, which I didn't think was fair.”
After setting his argument in the media room, he has made sure his side continue it effectively on the field.
The Kilmarnock job looked a perilous one to take given the position of the club, yet in the space of two months he has overseen an improvement that has been as strong as could have possibly been hoped.
Any belief that the point they claimed at Ibrox, which was achieved in the most dramatic circumstances as Rangers missed a 94th-minute penalty before Kilmarnock broke instantly to level through Chris Burke, was a fluke were pushed aside days later as they went to Celtic days later and repeated the result.
Since then, Clarke has led a steady improvement in the side’s fortunes, which culminated in Saturday’s spectacular 5-1 win over Partick Thistle. Only Aberdeen have got the better of his Kilmarnock side, which is already looking towards the top six.
Having seen at close quarters the effect that Clarke has had on his team, the Rangers board might well regret not having sacked Caixinha a few days earlier to make an approach for a coach so highly regarded that he was once described as “incredible” by Mourinho.
Already he is living up to that billing – and that must have the Ibrox side nursing regrets.
Nearly two months into their hunt for a new manager, which increasingly looks like it will end up at the inevitable conclusion of Graeme Murty taking charge at least until the end of the season, the Gers seem to have hit an impasse, yet there is perhaps no-one better suited than Clarke in Scottish football currently to lead the Gers.
He boasts incredible experience at the very highest level of the game and a contact book that perhaps even exceeds that of Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.
And, as he has put forth both on and off the field, he has a history of success.
It seems inconceivable that Rangers will be able to find anyone on their budget matching these qualities, but with Clarke having committed his future to Kilmarnock until 2020, that ship appears to have sailed as their painstaking quest continues.
