Britain's northernmost football league ground, the Briggs district of Elgin, is a dangerous place for a team scared of heights.
Aberdeen beat Rangers 2-1 last October to move level with champions Celtic at the top of the Premiership. While Philippe Clement's team succumbed to another bout of chronic seasickness during the trip, Jimmy Thelin's team kept their acrophobia under control a little longer.
When the vertigo came, they fell from a great height and kept falling. Dismantled by Celtic in the semi-finals of the Premier Sports Cup, the altitude began to bother them.
Losing 2-1 to St Mirren in the league, they traveled to Easter Road and dropped further points.
Until Hibs defender Rocky Bushiri equalized in the 96th minute, the Dons were heading to the top of the table with 34 points. They would have been 26 ahead of a David Gray team locked in and destroyed at the foot of the table.
Thelin must hope his team survive a closely contested tie against Elgin in the Scottish Cup
Aberdeen lost to minnows Darvel in a now famous Scottish Cup clash in 2023
Elgin's Briggs district could host another giant slaying if Thelin Dons don't improve
Seven weeks on, Hibs are climbing the table while Aberdeen are falling faster than the silhouette in the opening credits of Mad Men.
The best start to a season in its 122-year history was followed by its worst score ever in 11 games. The collapse has been as dizzying and unexpected as the rise that electrified Pittodrie and gave Scottish football a shot of adrenaline.
Without a win in 12 games, the Pittodrie team has fallen to fourth place in the league. Energized by that 3-3 draw last November, Hibs are now shaking an angry fist in the rear-view mirror, just six points separating the teams.
Despite bringing on new faces Kristers Tobers, Jeppe Okkels, Alfie Dorrington and Alexander Jensen, the contrast between an inept midweek defeat to Rangers and the 2-1 win over the same opponents last October was staggering. When a team cannot defend, pass the ball or score goals, it can hardly expect to win games.
Elgin City made the jump from the Highland League to the Senior Leagues in 2000 and they never threatened to scare the horses. Borough Briggs has a fixed capacity of 4,520, and the 478 seats in the main stand were donated by Newcastle United.
A game that wouldn't have given Jimmy Thelin any sleepless nights during the heady days of summer now seems like a test of courage. Elgin has a real chance of leaving Dons managers shuffling uncomfortably in the seats that once filled the Milburn Stand at St James' Park.
Devoid of the predatory instincts of a Jackie Milburn, an Alan Shearer or a Hughie Gallacher, Aberdeen can't seem to buy a goal.
When the rejuvenated Pape Gueye succumbed to a long-term injury early in the season, players like Kevin Nisbet, Topi Keskinen and Peter Ambrose were often good for a late winner.
Darvel's defeat spelled the end for Dons manager Jim Goodwin, now in charge of Dundee United.
Thelin's players appeared lacking in confidence during the 3-0 defeat to Ibrox in midweek.
Thelin looked stunned after the 3-0 loss to Rangers made it 12 games without a win.
After one goal in the last 540 minutes, the Dons' attacking force now looks like a confidence-less rabble who would struggle to hit a barn door with a beach ball.
A team that seemed compact, organized, solid at the back, aggressive and capable of launching ultra-fast counterattacks now seems porous and dead.
Players are not robots. And a relentless series of games, with no winter break, is clearly taking its toll.
Sivert Heltne Nilsen, a standout in the opening weeks of the season, looked every bit his 33 years when he gifted Rangers their first goal the other night. Graeme Shinnie, an exceptional captain, it is difficult to remember having a worse night than the one he had at Ibrox.
Crippled by injuries and with his team running empty-handed, Thelin has escaped any blame for his woeful run. Supporters accept that the manager has inherited the same unreliable group that pushed Jim Goodwin, Barry Robson and Neil Warnock towards the exit.
After a 2-0 defeat to Kilmarnock last February, Warnock claimed Aberdeen had too many “good” players and lacked physicality. When British football's Red Adair couldn't put out the flames, they asked a Swedish newcomer to come in and put out the fire.
After a promising start, Shinnie and company are back to form and Thelin needs his new signings to improve them. If they can't, all those credits accumulated in the first weeks of the season will be used up quickly.
After a dismal performance at Ibrox in midweek, 800 Dons fans stayed to applaud the manager and players. Their patience and loyalty will be pushed to the absolute limit if a Scottish Cup trip to Elgin turns into another Darvel.
Data software is no match for Pleat's eyes and ears
David Pleat turned 80 on Wednesday. At an age when most retirees are doing crosswords, watching The Chase or running for President of the United States, Celtic want the former Tottenham boss to expertly monitor the English transfer market on their behalf.
You can almost hear the data hipsters snickering condescendingly in their club tracksuits.
An old-school footballer with vast knowledge and a contact book to die for, Pleat might not fit the prototype of the modern football scout.
Celtic have attracted attention by hiring 80-year-old David Pleat as a scout.
He doesn't spend his days in a dark room poring over video clips, facts and figures. You wouldn't even dream of spending millions on a player without seeing him in person.
However, Spurs informed their former manager last summer that the skills that unearthed Jan Vertonghen, Delle Alli and Ben Davies were no longer needed.
“They called me and said, 'Everything is data-driven now, we don't need eyes and ears,'” he told the Telegraph. 'What nonsense. Data is fine when it enhances eyes and ears, not replaces them.'
No one disputes that data is an invaluable tool for the modern football scout. However, so far it cannot replace the naked eye evidence or the instincts and experience that can only be honed and sharpened after years of mumbling into a recording device alongside a tone.
The numbers say nothing about a player's heart, determination or reaction to adversity, or how he relates to his teammates when his team is down 3-0 with half an hour remaining.
Data should inform decisions about players, not drive them. It is still scouts like David Pleat, with his intuitive understanding and love of the game, who should offer the final recommendation on a multi-million dollar investment in a player. It is not a software program on a laptop.
Consultants should be making calls on the Rangers' B team…not Koppen
The Rangers hired outside consultants to begin an operational review of their football activities last Monday.
Reports emerged on Thursday night that manager Nils Koppen had made the decision to scrap the club's B team and spend the money saved on the first team.
That's very good. But the Rangers have acknowledged that their football department is failing.
And surely it makes more sense to let expensive consultants make a recommendation about what happens to Team B, rather than leaving the decision in the hands of a figure who is clearly part of the problem.