IF A tree falls in the wood, and there is nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?
This is the question with which Aberdeen must wrestle as they attempt to rebuild the bond with their supporters in front of crowds that would shame a PTA coffee morning.
The Red Army now knows how Jim Leighton felt on the Dons’ last trip to Hampden. The Queen of the South debacle was a real kick in the teeth. Leighton, of course, was never to return and there are hundreds, if not thousands for whom the Scottish Cup semi-final will have the same effect, for this season at least. The tiny deputation which headed to Celtic Park for the first of five meaningless games was a portentous glimpse of things to come.
In the four seasons of Jimmy Calderwood’s reign, the standard of entertainment has rarely been high, which is why attendances have been falling while the club’s stock has risen.
The core support has excused the boredom because the results were good but that can no longer be said in a season which has produced only two league wins against teams in the top six and self-destruction in both cups.
Scraping out of the bottom half will earn them one further shot at keeping the fan base which was augmented by the Uefa cup run. Once the devastation has subsided and pre-season begins, the diehards who, for emotional and financial reasons be sitting out the next four weeks, will be back for more, and Calderwood must now be in no doubt that he must deliver and that his work starts here with a serious recruitment drive.
What must now be a radical overhaul – forgive anyone who doesn't share Jimmy's avowed excitement at the scale of the turnover and who would rather he signed decent players in the first place – may only have been minor refinements had he been bold enough to start the squad building process in January.
I agree with more or less everything what he says