It all seems like an awful long way away right now.
And not just because the high-level talks taking place over the last couple of days – discussions aimed at reshaping the entire landscape of football in Europe – have been held behind doors in Holland.
No, we’ve been hearing whispers about radical reform for so long it has all become a bit wearying.
Some of us are even old enough to remember when the prospect of a North Atlantic League seemed exciting.
But nothing’s happened for so long that the cynics inside us shrug at talk of innovative restructuring and wonder how much further away it will leave Scottish football from the European powerhouses.
This has been a slow, hard Brexit and it has been happening for even longer than the endless debacle in the House of Commons. So much so, a hopeless acceptance has become deeply embedded in Scottish football’s psyche.
There’s nothing in any of it for the ‘have nots’ other than another round of qualifiers and more
obstacles thrown between our clubs and the elite, who wish to keep the likes of us at arm’s length in case we stink their club out.
No wonder that when talk moves on to the creation of a ‘Super Dooper’ new Champions League in just five years, it barely raises an eyebrow.
The suspicion being for a Scottish club to ever gain entry to such a lofty set-up they’d need to start winning weekly qualifiers in May and then throw a double six before the end of August just to make the final round of play-offs.
Where they’d face an inevitable round-housing from Barcelona, Chelsea or Bayern Munich.
No amount of disco lights in the world is going to make a difference.
But there might just be something more in it for Scottish football than we have been conditioned to imagine. This time, it might just be the game changer we’ve been waiting for.
Forget the new and improved Champions League. If that does come into being by 2024 then it really will only be for those and such as those.
This is a push by the biggest clubs to make their environment even more purified and opulent.
There is a theory, a strongly held one, that it could lead to the likes of Liverpool v Real Madrid on Saturday at Anfield while Juventus face Manchester City in Turin.
Not so much evolution as complete revolution.
And the sums involved would have to be beyond eye-watering if the English clubs are to be tempted.
They gorged themselves on broadcast contracts worth over £5billion at the last rights auction for the Premier League so it will take something special to relegate that golden goose to midweek TV slots.
It’s all a long way off but the heavy lobbying and back channelling began some time ago and Celtic’s chief executive Peter Lawwell has manoeuvred himself on to the fringes of discussions with his seat on the European Clubs Association board – the body driving the proposals.
The ECA met yesterday with UEFA’s executive to begin formalising some ideas and although these are early days, there is a consensus that the game is ready for restructuring.
If Arsenal play PSG at 3pm on a Saturday, Celtic should be allowed to face Porto, Ajax or Anderlecht rather than Motherwell, St Mirren or Dundee.
And if Celtic can make such a leap then it follows that the same pathways be opened up to Rangers , Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, Kilmarnock or whoever else is in the top six.
While Theresa May is scrambling to find a way out of Europe, our football clubs ought to be doing all they can to burrow their way back in.
UEFA 'Super Champions League' talks get underway as Scottish clubs watch developments closely
