The tension in the coming weeks for Dundee, United and St Johnstone fans will be palpable.
At Dens and McDiarmid Park, the window to avoiding relegation is closing rapidly while, for United, the prospect of a top six finish – and possibly European football – is still very much alive.
At Dens, fans can quibble over the manner of Mark McGhee’s instalment as boss, but I’m underwhelmed by their arguments that it’s an underwhelming appointment.
McGhee had a playing career that very few players currently in Scotland could come close to matching and has managed clubs of significant size and prestige, including Leicester and Wolves in England and Aberdeen and Motherwell here.
Along with other reporters, I sat with him in the Motherwell team hotel before their game against French side Nancy, after McGhee had taken them into Europe with a third place Premiership finish.
I also interviewed him more than a few times as BBC pitch-side reporter and found him to be a very articulate, erudite and intelligent individual.
He’s strong-willed and opinionated, but that’s hardly a unique characteristic or a debilitating one in football management.
In football, only results count and, if he can instil organisation, endeavour and consistency into a squad which I’ve said here regularly has sufficient ability to stay in the top league, he will prove his doubters wrong as he attempts to pull Dundee out of the mire they find themselves in.
Both Saints and Dundee have beaten Hearts, the third best side in the country on successive weekends.
It got James McPake the sack, but it won’t do that with Calum Davidson, whose calm-headed approach and new signings may reboot and reinvigorate his team’s dire season.
Getting previously double-winning players back on track and the impact of fresh, hungry, new bodies was evident in the win over Hearts.
So too was a sense of camaraderie and backing between fans and the team.
Saints, like Dundee, have an uphill battle to maintain their long-held Premiership membership, but a win at Dingwall this weekend would be morale-booster of huge proportions and significance in their scrap to retain their place in the top flight – and could be a seminal moment in their revival and survival.
Meantime, at Tannadice, Tam Courts continues to confound those who thought his appointment was a risky one.
After a sticky spell, Dundee United have rediscovered their lustre and their sparkle, going five unbeaten and taking a well-deserved point against Rangers last Sunday.
With 14 academy graduates making appearances this season, United is a shop window for bigger clubs and also for parents of promising youngsters, who are happy to send their boys to the club knowing there is a great opportunity of first team football and a good career in the game.
I found a picture of Jim McLean talking to his squad at training in the 1970’s this week.
Eight of the 15 were from Dundee.
With their academy system now beginning to bear fruit, United are keeping alive a proud Tannadice tradition in rearing their own for future stardom.
Mark McGhee: The highs and lows of new Dundee manager’s rollercoaster career
