I was at Hampden on Tuesday night for what was billed as the new dawn for the Scotland national team under new management.

The optimism over Belgian coach Sébastien Pocognoli’s first home game lasted all of 11 minutes before we were reduced to 10 men, the roof caved in and the traditional air of despondency descended.

Was I surprised that Scotland struggled against a competent Swiss side? No. Even before Jack Hendry’s red card I was prepared for defeat.

Supporting Scotland teaches you not to hope for too much so the damage of the inevitable disappointment is limited.

As the third Swiss goal rattled the net I was left thinking: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

It was the second time on Tuesday I experienced that same feeling. The first came earlier watching Andy Burnham’s first speech as Prime Minister to the Labour conference.

As political set pieces go, it passed muster. It will never be included in a compendium of the world’s greatest speeches, but it was competent. There were even some vague outlines of policies that, if delivered, I support.

As expected, he avoided many tricky topics, including increasing demands for welfare reform and........

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