So how was it for you? Was it the best World Cup ever, or just a reminder that when it is competitive and played well, football is the best form of entertainment.

Personally, I still think Mexico 1970 and Spain 1982 were my favourite tournaments, especially since I attended the latter and saw the formation of the Tartan Army, but Russia 2018 is a good third and partly that was down to the fact that four of the biggest nations and favourites for the tournament did not even make it to the semi-finals.

In the end, justice was done. The best team won and look likely to dom-inate world football for a while. Yet what a lesson for Scotland from Croatia. Their population is smaller than ours and they have fewer registered players. Yet they produced a magnificent generation of footballers for the second time in 20 years and inspired everyone with their never-say-die attitude.

Now all we want is for Alex McLeish to find a Scottish golden generation and get us back into the World Cup, though we will settle in the meantime for the European Championship in two years’ time.

On the VAR controversy, all I have to say is that it was hugely entertaining and resulted in correct decisions in the vast majority of cases, so the system is here to stay and will improve with use. We must now get VAR into at least the top league in Scotland and the latter rounds of the Scottish Cup and League Cup. With so much riding on outcomes, referees should be given every assistance to make correct decisions on the issues that count most – goals, penalties, offsides ... aye, and dangerous play, too.

What other lessons are there for the Scottish game from the World Cup? Frankly, something must be done to make Scottish football more competitive. We need to start seeing some surprises because I fear another season of sameness.

It is not the fault of Celtic that they are so dominant because that can happen in any league. In Serie A in Italy, for instance, Juventus are also going for an eighth successive title, and does anyone complain about that? No, because the Old Lady of Turin promptly went out and bought Cristiano Ronaldo for €100 million rather than rest on their laurels.

Juve really are an exceptionally well run club, and in a Scottish context so are Celtic. Which brings me to Rangers, the wayward sleeping or lost giant of Scottish football. I really fear that the headlines on the back pages, and maybe on the front pages, too, will soon be dominated by Rangers for the wrong reasons again. Not because they have a poor manager, because Steven Gerrard has the playing experience and the personality to do his part of the job, and not principally because of the playing staff – they have bought or got on loan some decent players, though actual expenditure on outright purchases is still less than Celtic played for one player, Odsonne Edouard.

No, I fear the looming trouble is in the boardroom where chairman Dave King’s costly legal problems are long since past being a bad joke. He is now facing a contempt of court hearing on Friday over his failure to make a legally required share offer, and if he is punished, that would surely call into question his “fit and proper status” as required by the Scottish Football Association, not that they will do anything quick about it.

The Scottish Professional Football League, however, might have no choice but to do something, especially if King is given the cold shoulder by the City, a punishment which would render him and any associate effectively unable to do business in the UK.

Recently, we saw a classic piece of deflection by King, orchestrated by the masters of the dark arts of PR and journalism that advise him. Rangers put out a statement attacking SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan over alleged conflict of interests between the SPFL chairmanship and his role with companies controlled by Celtic shareholders Dermot Desmond and Denis O’Brien.

The SPFL are backing MacLennan to the hilt, and that puts one Rangers man in a dreadful position. Stewart Robertson is managing director of the Ibrox club and sits on the SPFL board. If Rangers were being consistent, then Robertson should have resigned in protest over MacLennan, but I checked and he is still on the board. Or maybe it’s just an attempt to undermine Robertson, who knows?

I have said it before and I say it again. With Dave King seemingly unable to get his money out of South Africa, the Rangers face a real crisis, and although they won’t go bust it is surely time for all who have Rangers’ best interests at heart to sell the club to the only people who really matter at Ibrox – their many thousands of fans.