It tells us to put a sharp pin in our balloon of optimism – or at least let a good bit of air out of it.

It is easy to watch either – or both – of Glasgow’s big two and bin them off after they fail to pass the eye test, but they will likely still go on to post points tallies non-Old Firm clubs cannot find the consistency to come close to.

We are seeing that already in the infancy of the current campaign, with Hibs winning just one of their four opening games.

Meanwhile, despite a statement end to the transfer window, Aberdeen are rooted to the foot of the table with one point and no goals from four matches.

Closing the sizeable margin between second and third could prove hard enough. The average distance between the two spots over the past five seasons is 22 points.

That gap reflects a widening financial chasm, with qualification for Uefa’s club competitions playing a key role.

While Celtic and Rangers have both failed to reach the Champions League this season, both still accounted for about 86% of the transfer fees spent in the Premiership this summer, according to Transfermarkt, external.

It makes the Edinburgh pair breaking their transfer records in the past window look like a tiny drop in the ocean.

And Hearts (74) and Hibs (67) would likely also have to smash their top-flight points records to stand a chance of even finishing second.

A Rangers side that was led by Philippe Clement and then Barry Ferguson last term failed to win 16 games over the course of the 2024-25 Premiership campaign, yet they finished 17 points clear of Hibs in third.

The Ibrox club were 12 points behind Aberdeen in early November and still ended the campaign 22 ahead of Jimmy Thelin’s men.

Hearts investor Bloom has stressed the importance of “challenging the establishment”. Come the end of this season, he will have a clearer picture of how realistic that is.