When Scotland goes to Copenhagen next week before their opening world cup qualification against Denmark, Steve Clarke starts the last chapter of his time as a manager.
Regardless of whether or not Scotland is eligible for the showpiece tournament in America next summer, this will be the manager's last hurray. A last chance to lead the nation to our first world cup since 1998.
For all those things have been unraveled since the terrible show on Euro 2024, Clarke still has the chance to bend on the ultimate high.
Taking Scotland to three major tournaments, including a World Cup, would be a decent legacy and provide him with a good broadcast of the Tartan army.
The ability of Scotland to qualify from a group with the Danes, Greece and Wit -Russia, however, scary from Clarke who shows courage and ambition.
Armed with the most talented team of players who had the country in a generation, he must find a system that gets the most important men in midfield and forward areas.
That will almost certainly mean that the BackThree system will be thrown away that it was essentially created a few years ago to get Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson in the same team.
Blessed with two leftbacks from the top class, Clarke could not leave the couch either. He had to find a way to shoes them in the same team.
That is no longer the case. We must be shouting and obsession past this constant to get both players in the side.
The reality is that the team of Scotland has evolved and improved to the point where only one of Robertson and Tierney have to play at left back.
The available talent further on the field is heavier than the need for the old system, which is now at the expense of the quality elsewhere in the team.
Especially now that Ben Gannon Doak is fit and available again, he should really be the first name on Clarke's team magazine.
But there is also John McGinn, Scott Mctominay and Billy Gilmour to consider in midfield. Lewis Ferguson and Ryan Christie would also add quality and goals.
That is six players immediately of the bat who should be the focus of Clarke's attention, rather than with the BackThree system for both Tierney and Robertson.
This is where courage comes. Ultimately, the manager must be brave enough for the bigger good from the team to drop one of them.
In the case of Robertson, that would be a huge call. Would Clarke drop his captain? A player who served Scotland well, even if he never completely replicates his form with Liverpool? It doesn't feel like the kind of thing that Clarke would do.
If one of them were to be omitted, it feels more likely that it is Tierney. But this is where Clarke has a big problem.
Tierney started the season well for Celtic since they returned from Arsenal in the summer. Robertson is now on the couch in Liverpool.
He has fallen out of the grace under Arne Slot, with Liverpool who rinses £ 40 million to sign Hungarian international Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth.
Clarke is nothing, if not incredibly stubborn and loyal to certain players. We have seen countless examples of this over the years.
However, if he changes the system and leaves the handbrake off, the Robertson-Tierney government really can't go on. It is one or the other.
Clarke was a little charm offensive during the weekend when he did a pleasant, one-on-one interview with the BBC.
Kelly Cates' questions were softball gear. There was some Guff Van Clarke about how every Scotland player he spoke with after Euro 2024 thanked him for getting us there.
That is the same kind of nonsense with which his assistant came with John Carver before he left. Fully and completely detached from reality.
When the serious stuff starts in Copenhagen next Friday evening, Clarke would do herself a favor by cutting it all out. Fans of Scotland don't want to hear it.
They want a manager to be able to finally show an ambition and a capacity to evolve and adapt. His legacy as a manager depends on it.
It said that in the last match of Euro 2024 against Hungary – who had to win Scotland to make progress – he still refused to change things.
Even without Tierney, who had sustained a hamstring injury in the previous match against Switzerland, Clarke remained with five.
The whole point of that system was to house two left backs in the same team. Yet he even stayed without one of them.
Clarke really should have been rid of his duties from his duties from his duties. Yet here, at the start of a new campaign, we are praying that he can turn this around and express a few more results.
Does he stay with Robertson, even though he doesn't play for Liverpool? That still feels like the most likely option.
It would probably be hard on Tierney, but that is the kind of daring call that Clarke has to make. That's why he paid a lot of money.
To borrow an old line from Highlander, there can only be one.