With their NFL background, the American money men set to pile their cash into Rangers will know a thing or two about the old Hail Mary pass.
For those who don’t know their tight ends from their elbow, it’s the fitba equivalent of a hit-and-hope punt up the park when you need a stoppage-time equaliser.
There’s always a chance it might come off, but 99 times out of 100 it ends in bitter disappointment.
And that’s exactly what Rangers’ supposed pursuit of Davide Ancelotti felt like – a major gamble on suspect odds.
Sure Carlo’s boy has a pretty impressive CV on the face of it having worked alongside his old man at Bayern Munich, PSG, Napoli, Everton and Madrid.
He’ll have picked up plenty seeing how Ancelotti Snr - one of the game’s true coaching greats - operates up close on a daily basis.
The 35-year-old will have gleaned a proper insight too into the mindset that makes the world’s best players tick having helped the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Luca Modric prepare for huge Champions League ties with Real.
In Germany, he’ll have racked up valuable hours working on the training pitch alongside superstars such as Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben.
During his stint on Merseyside, Davide won the admiration of Everton insiders for the relentless graft he put in while supporting his dad, and his inventive work around set-pieces.
All that was mentioned when he was linked to the Toffees top job on a couple of occasions, including earlier this season when Sean Dyche got his jotters.
But with Premier League survival hanging in the balance, the Goodison board decided that was not the time to gamble on an untested boss who has been given a leg up in the game largely thanks to his family name.
Davide may very well end up being a chip off the old block but there’s no way of knowing that until he branches out on his own and proves it.
And that’s why it was a major surprise was his name was linked so heavily with the Rangers gig.
US Health tycoon and prospective Rangers investor Andrew Cavenagh alongside 49ers director Raminder Dhadwal
Andrew Cavenagh and his partners from the San Francisco 49ers have enough to be getting on with at Rangers this summer without having to babysit a rookie coach too.
Barry Ferguson was adamant last week as he insisted the Ibrox dugout is no place for a project boss - and the caretaker gaffer is absolutely right.
Patience amongst the supporter base is wearing thin, as proved by the sight of thousands of blue seats sitting empty as Gers played out their two final two home games against Aberdeen and Dundee United.
The new owners will be given time to settle into their new Govan surroundings but the Light Blue legions won’t tolerate a repeat of the scenes that will be played out in the east end of the city tomorrow as Celtic celebrate a fourth successive league crown much longer.
The soon-to-be-ousted Gers board went from being recognised as the saviours who wrestled control away Mike Ashley to being known as a bunch of ditherers and blunderers on account of their muddled decision-making.
The new custodians will see their reputation suffer a similar slide if they don’t get their pick for boss right.
And the best way to mitigate against another year of jubilant scenes down the Gallowgate is to appoint a tried and tested gaffer, someone who has built their reputation by themselves — not on the coattails of daddy.
Ibrox sources have been insisting since the Ancelotti news broke on Monday night that the story was not as cut and dried as it was being suggested by reports in Spain.
Yes he was on a shortlist of names but he was far from being the frontrunner for the gig.
That has now proved true, with the Real Madrid No2 now deciding to follow his dad to Brazil as Don Carlo looks to add the 2026 World Cup to his huge haul of trophies.
Who knows, perhaps Ancelotti was sounded out but having taken a look at the scale of the job required at Rangers this summer, he got cold feet.
If so, perhaps this is a fumbled pass the 49ers might come to look back on with relief.