Stephen Robinson's expected appointment as Aberdeen manager is almost five years to the day since Derek McInnes departed Pittodrie.
Five years and five permanent managers later, there appears to be a puzzling lack of consistency in what the club are looking for, leaving fans questioning what the strategy is meant to be.
Stephen Glass was initially a big change from McInnes. He had nowhere near the same experience as a manager, but was described by chairman Dave Cormack as "the outstanding candidate" because of his desire to play an exciting, attacking style of football, as well as developing young players.
His coaching background in the USA, along with decorated former Celtic captain Scott Brown beginning his coaching career in the north-east, promised a different direction.
Glass lasted less than a year, and was replaced by experience and pragmatism in Jim Goodwin.
When that too didn't work out, Barry Robson's interim spell as boss soon led to him being appointed on a permanent basis. Again, Cormack stressed Robson's work on creating a pathway from the youth team to the first team as evidence he should be trusted long term.
Following Robson's departure, there was the ill-fated experiment with Neil Warnock, who failed to win a single league game.
On 11 March 2024, exactly two years before Aberdeen's approach for Robinson became public, the club announced they had instructed a consultancy group to conduct a "holistic review of our football operation" to finally get the model of management and recruitment into some sort of workable structure.
Jimmy Thelin made the move from Sweden that summer promising a three-year plan, and won the Scottish Cup in his first season, but the promised sporting director didn't join him until October last year when German Lutz Pfannenstiel arrived. Their partnership lasted three months before Thelin was shown the door.
For two months, Pfannenstiel has been leading the search for a new head coach. Interviews were conducted, with Norwegian Eirik Horneland emerging as the favourite.
Just last week, Sandro Schwarz sat in the Pittodrie stands as a guest of the club, with Cormack revealing the German was one of a few names they were considering.
And yet, here they are with Robinson, a man they perhaps could have approached two months ago, or even two years ago, and is probably as close to McInnes in terms of personality and style of play as anyone.
