Disaster Index: 5.1 Entry: The 1978 Recurrence Pattern Cause: National media returning to the 1978 campaign as primary reference material in the final days before Scotland's first World Cup fixture in 28 years. Category: Historical / Emotional Evidence: The 1978 narrative — a manager, a country, and a set of expectations that exceeded available evidence — is now in active circulation. The story is being retold not as warning but as weather. Scotland has a documented tendency to reach for 1978 not to learn from it but to live inside it again. Historical precedent: 1978 itself. Also 1982, 1986, 1990, and every qualifying campaign since in which the question "could this be another Ally's Army?" was asked before it was earned. Affected parties: Supporters who were not alive in 1978 and are about to have the story explained to them again. Supporters who were alive in 1978 and do not require the explanation. Immediate outlook: The recurrence is noted. The Index does not advise against the recollection. It advises against the recollection becoming the preparation.