NEIL McCann, in his prime, was part of a Rangers regime throwing money around like confetti on a squad built to compete for the Champions League and a youth system designed to be the envy of all.
That was a decade-and-a-half ago.
Over the course of last week, having left his coaching role at Dunfermline Athletic at the end of last season, he was given a stark insight into just how drastically things have changed; and not just inside the Ibrox club, but in the general landscape of Scottish football.
McCann took up the invitation to help out during PFA Scotland's Player Showcase programme at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld, putting a host of jobless footballers through their paces in the hope of getting them back into the game at some level.
He can see the number of youngsters being consigned to the scrapheap as clubs cut costs and become more risk-averse. He spent time coaching beside Richie Brittain, just one experienced, Premiership-standard player who has decided to go part-time at a lower level and take a job on Civvy Street purely for the long-term security it provides.
Warnings from the Players' Union that we may only be a season or so away from our top division having part-time professionals are the final straw for McCann.
A revolution is required. McCann favours summer football, an expanded league system and cheaper ticket prices for supporters.
He still believes Scottish football has much to offer when it comes to selling itself, but accepts that radical solutions are required to restore the game to rude health without the kind of spending that saw Rangers, Motherwell and Dunfermline, to name but three, all end up lurching into administration.
"It wasn't just Rangers who were spending money," McCann said. "Look at Motherwell, who were buying John Spencer for £750,000 or so. Aberdeen were shelling out money as well.
"I have no idea what risks these clubs were taking, but Scottish football was in a better place in terms of crowds.
"I'd guess it was cheaper to watch football then while the money the clubs were paying was more than what they are paying now. I can't get my head round that.
"I know there is a study going on just now about summer football and I have always liked that idea.
"We need to get people coming back to football and I'd imagine that would have a knock-on effect as clubs could invest the revenue.
"They might take more of a risk with a player, say, in keeping them on for another year as they might be a late developer.
"Gone are the days of players in the Championship, for example, earning fortunes. There is a large majority of those you would term the average punter probably earning more than them.
"That is where we are as an industry and we will need to address it."
McCann, while seeking opportunities in coaching as the proud holder of the Uefa Pro Licence, remains involved in the game through his work with Sky Sports. Insiders at several Scottish clubs insist satellite broadcasters would be willing to pay more for Scottish football should it switch to a summer calendar.
The 40-year-old pleads ignorance over the opinions of his broadcasting paymasters, but sees so many other reasons why avoiding the worst of the winter months would make sense.
"What would you be against?" he asked. "You have better pitches in the summer. You have a better chance of someone taking their kid along on a summer's evening. You also have less electricity to use for your stadium.
"The European adventure comes into it too. How far are Caley Thistle and St Johnstone going to go this season? They are going to be drawn against teams which are already up and running, so we have to ask if we want to give ourselves the best opportunity?"
McCann certainly feels that reaching a stage where SPFL Premiership sides had players on part-time contracts, as predicted recently by the PFA Scotland chairman Fraser Wishart, would represent a real tipping point.
"I don't think you can have that, can you?" he asked.
"Hibs, Hearts and Rangers had huge crowds. Dunfermline were averaging 2,700, which is a good gate for League One.
"Can we afford clubs with big fan bases being in the lower leagues?
"I am not saying these teams should be parachuted back into the top league, but maybe it is up for discussion.
"The league needs to be expanded.
"There are all sorts of discussions - even talk of full-time teams only.
"Could we sustain a league of 18 or 20 teams with the excitement of going to an away ground just once a year? Would that attract a bigger crowd? The only downside is that you wouldn't get your four Old Firm games, your four Edinburgh derbies or New Firm derbies or Dundee derbies.
"Someone needs to get round the table and it has to be people who know the game and have played the game.
"Aberdeen made a great challenge last season, but, ultimately, Celtic were always going to win it. If Rangers aren't up there, where is the challenge to Celtic? Celtic fans can say what they want, but they need competition."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article