WAS it really only 15 months ago that a Scottish team played in a European final at the end of a season in which our clubs had delivered their best collective performance in continental competition since 1970?
Can it have been just six months longer since the Scottish international team raised national pride in their efforts to an unforgettable level with their admirable if in vain bid to split Italy and France in Euro 2008 qualifying?
As the game in th
is country reflects on another grim week in a truly miserable start to the season in European and international terms, it is difficult to recall the optimism which was so recently widespread.
Hearts' crushing 4-0 Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia on Thursday night was the tenth reversal suffered in 14 European matches so far for Scottish clubs in this embryonic but already thoroughly dispiriting campaign.
Of the four victories which have been racked up in the other fixtures, only Celtic's fine 2-0 success against Dinamo Moscow in Russia offered any genuine source of satisfaction and encouragement.
Falkirk's home win over Vaduz was wiped out by their 2-0 second-leg loss in Liechtenstein, arguably the worst European elimination ever suffered by a Scottish club. Motherwell did manage to make a contribution to Scotland's Uefa co-efficient ranking with their wins over Llanelli and Flamurtari, although only after losing the first legs of their ties against hardly fearsome Welsh and Albanian opposition.
Aberdeen's 8-1 aggregate loss to Sigma Olomouc was placed firmly in perspective on Thursday night when the unremarkable Czech outfit were seen off 4-0 by Everton in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie.
Those seeking to excuse Hearts' capitulation in Zagreb, meanwhile, by lauding Dinamo as an outstanding team may wish to reconsider. This, after all, was a Dinamo side knocked out of the Champions League by Red Bull Salzburg, the Austrian title holders subsequently beaten at home by Maccabi Haifa of Israel earlier this week.
Barring a seismic second-leg turnaround at Tynecastle next Thursday, four of Scotland's six representatives in Europe will have made their exit before the end of August.
Sadly, it has certainly proved to be a case of more is less for Scottish football. Whatever Celtic and Rangers can go on to achieve in the group stages of their respective tournaments over the next few months will, in wider terms, be diluted by the failure of the other four clubs.
To determine a country's co-efficient, Uefa divides the points earned by its number of participants. It leaves the Old Firm needing to make significant progress in order to arrest an already-alarming slump down the ranking table.
Thursday night's horror show in Zagreb saw Scotland slip a further place to 14th in the provisional 2010 list which will determine how many clubs will enter the 2011-12 tournaments and at what stage.
If Scotland drop out of the top 15, they will be entitled to only one entrant in the Champions League. In that event, the SPL title winners would face at least two qualifying rounds before the group stage.
At the current rate of projection, Scotland would be 32nd out of the 53 Uefa nations on the co-efficient list by 2013, below countries such as Israel, Republic of Ireland, Lithuania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Finland.
Put simply, Scotland can ill afford another campaign as bad as last season when Celtic's otherwise meaningless 2-0 win over Villarreal at Parkhead in their final Champions League group fixture was the only victory recorded by our clubs in 12 European fixtures.
Scotland can never hope to return to the heady days of the 1960s when the strength of our club football saw us regularly ranked as high as third, behind only Spain and Italy, in the Uefa ratings. But it would take only a couple of reasonable European runs from the Old Firm over the next couple of seasons to at least stabilise the co-efficient and prevent further, possibly irreparable damage.
The results recorded so far this season are certainly a reflection of the wider financial problems being experienced in our top flight. Aberdeen, Motherwell and Falkirk have seen the value and overall quality of their squads diminished by players departing for better terms and conditions in the English Championship and even League One.
Hearts, too, may not have suffered such a heavy defeat on Thursday had they not lost the services of players such as Bruno Aguiar and Christos Karipidis during the summer.
Performances in European club competitions are not necessarily an accurate guide to the health of a country's football. Arsenal's victory over Celtic in Glasgow on Tuesday, after all, was achieved without an English player.
There is no doubt, however, that the general standard of Scottish footballers is at one of its lowest points with the national team's numbing 4-0 defeat to an ordinary Norwegian side in Oslo ten days ago underscoring the current run of setbacks.
Judgment should be reserved until the conclusion of the World Cup qualifying campaign and the duration of the Old Firm's participation in European competition.
Scottish football has shown before that it can ascend a peak fairly soon after finding itself in a trough.
Seldom, however, has optimism been harder to summon up.
