As we know, Scottish football is in a total limbo at present – no decision has been made yet on the 19/20 season with authorities trying to buy time and see how the present crisis develops.

There has been much debate over whether the league will be voided, awarded to Celtic, or postponed till later in the year, but if there’s any guidance or help for our wonderful governing bodies to seek, it’s the example being set in Japan.

Under hiatus/lockdown since February, Japan, despite having a gigantic population in excess of double the UK’s, has managed its own crisis rather well, and the J-League, while suspended since the same time, has actually been rescheduled to resume on the 9th of May.

This little-known fact about a nation near the heart of the outbreak and one of the most densely populated places on earth, suggests while we wouldn’t expect Scottish football to get going again next month, there is certainly an example to follow with Japan’s general management of the disaster. And a consequent beacon of hope.

There is also another clue about Japan, which has similarities to the UK – both of them are islands, and as such have a water break stopping easy spread from the mainland.

The point? Japan intends, to all intents and purposes, to resume next month – admittedly a skeleton resumption omitting missed matchdays, but a resumption nonetheless.

We couldn’t guess if and when Scottish football will follow suit, or indeed when football at large will, but there are nations handling this terrible situation with a notable amount of effectiveness, and Japan is definitely one of them.

The pencilled date of next month for football again shows this.

Hopefully the rest of the world can seize control in a timescale not a million miles away from Japan.