It was hardly sophisticated or subtle and in the end it failed spectacularly.
Bizarrely it looks like Celtic may have benefited most from Sevco’s campaign to unsettle Derek McInnes and lure him ‘home to Ibrox’.
Between Pedro Caixinha getting the sack and McInnes saying ‘no thanks’ Aberdeen dropped an incredible 11 points from six matches, most noticeably losing back-to-back matches against Sevco. Since rejecting the move McInnes has helped the Dons win three matches on the bounce.
Even allowing for two defeats against Sevco if Aberdeen had beaten Motherwell and Hamilton they would be heading to Celtic Park on Saturday on level points with the champions.
From the minute that Caixinha was sacked every trick in the book was used to get McInnes to resign from his job at Aberdeen.
Former team-mates were tripping over themselves to share their view that a move to Ibrox would be perfect for his career.
Scotland’s friendly with Holland saw Graeme Shinnie and Kenny McLean grilled about the likely loss of their manager.
During the same period Celtic suffered three Champions League defeats including a 7-1 loss in Paris.
Brendan Rodgers’ side has been vulnerable, perhaps they would have been more vulnerable if there was a sustained challenge from Pittodrie.
All of the hype failed to bring Sevco the manager they wanted. They remain in third place in the Premiership, manager-less, leaderless and rudderless.
Should Celtic go into Christmas eight points clear at the top of the table perhaps a special toast should be raised to BBC Scotland and the cast of thousands covering Kris Boyd, Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Brian Laudrup and Dick Advocaat for undermining Aberdeen’s challenge to the hoops.
