Football fans in this area will be nervously wondering what 2019 might bring for their teams.
Dundee supporters can see some light at the end of a dark tunnel now that Jim McIntyre is driving the train.
However, he inherited a team where confidence was wrecked, and that light might yet be an oncoming locomotive called relegation, unless the Dens board ensure the funds are available to strengthen the side.
Propping up the Premiership as the year turns isn’t the kind of Hogmanay celebration Dundee fans hoped for, and renewing old acquaintances with the Championship would be the equivalent of meeting the ghost of Christmas past.
Bizarrely, Dundee United find themselves in the very time warp their neighbours occupied five years ago, with a new American owner.
Mark Ogren has offered encouraging words for the future and paid warm homage to United’s past Irish ancestry. He seems confident he can turn a profit at Tannadice.
Seasoned observers will wish him well, but warn that the path in football is strewn with unexpected rocks.
He’ll have to give his manager the funds required for any special offers in the January window, to make sure that front runners Ross County and Ayr don’t book an early summer holiday in the top flight at United’s expense.
St Johnstone’s star again shines more brightly than either of their Dundee rivals as the old year fades.
The Perth side are the model of good management in the boardroom and on the pitch.
They’re the equivalent of the tall, handsome first foot, who brings a decent bottle to the party.
Where the New Year ahead for their Tayside rivals is uncertain and fraught with danger, Saints’ confidence is in direct proportion to the lengthening of the days.
For those old enough to recall when Dunfermline Athletic was a power in the land, there are some hopeful signs.
Off the field, the club appears in good financial shape and well run. On the pitch though they are too close to the basement for comfort and a year which started brightly is now overhung with dark shadows.
The New Year could be a foreboding time for the Pars unless manager Allan Johnston can steer his side away from potential danger.
The coming year will bring differing fortunes for the Angus and Fife sides in the lower leagues.
High-flying Arbroath look a great bet to win League One and secure championship football for 2018, while Raith Rovers enter the year as their closest rivals, determined to return to a league which their full-time set-up demands.
East Fife, Montrose and Forfar all seem set to be involved in the battle for play-off places, but sadly Brechin have gone into freefall after relegation last season, and are in danger of repeating the exercise.
Cowdenbeath are currently in mid-table security, and after recent flirtations where they nearly dropped out of League Two altogether that’s probably a fairly comfortable berth.
Whatever 2019 brings, fans will bear it with the fortitude borne of long experience, which teaches, that like wine harvests, good years are often outnumbered by the bad.
