IT was just like a page from the past. Flick back through the newspaper files for two decades, or maybe less, and you would read all about Rangers' players involved in disputes with their team manager.
A number of them trotted off to the Hong Kong Football Association, too, in order to air their grievances and seek redress. There was hot air aplenty but little hard cash when the various confrontations ended.
When former Welsh youth star Steve O'Shaughnessy headed for Ho Man Tin last week after a verbal battle with team manager Philip Lee Fai-lap, it was a vivid reminder of the way things used to be.
Hong Kong soccer has become more sedate over the past few years, certainly when it comes to personal relations between players and managers.
That's all to the good and the way it should be in an ideal football world. But disputes will always be part of the game and those who have followed the fortunes of Hong Kong Rangers over the years will readily recall that they had them as regularly as they used to score goals.
Central to it all was the fiery figure of team boss Ian Petrie who started the side and was the main man behind the official introduction of professional soccer to the territory.