Fitting not because it was Scotland in November, but because that has been the climate surrounding the fight against doping in the past year or so.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officials will be hoping that particular dark cloud is lifted when their ruling 38-member Foundation Board meets tomorrow in what represents one of the most crucial gatherings of the body in recent history.

Never before have such big dark clouds hung over the Olympic Movement. The situation was only made worse in Doha earlier this week with the scathing attack on WADA President Sir Craig Reedie, who was subjected to stinging criticism from a number of officials during the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly.

The meeting in the Scottish city was supposed to be the homecoming for the 75-year-old. Instead, question marks have been raised as to whether he is the right man to lead the organisation amid a period of unprecedented turmoil within the worldwide sporting landscape.

Sir Craig is clearly having none of it. Privately seething at the treatment he was given in the Qatari capital, he has remained publicly dignified and bullish. Others may not have done so.

He is widely expected to secure another three-year term as head of the organisation tomorrow and has dismissed suggestions he will walk away following the barrage he faced earlier this week, though we will not know for certain until the meeting gets underway.

In spite of it all, even he is confident we can move on from the “dreadful” period sport has faced in recent times. Even he sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

But the divide between WADA and the IOC, which reared its ugly head once again in Doha, continues to slow down the process. Several sources here insisted today’s Executive Committee meeting, attended by representatives of both bodies, was harmonious, yet we were told that after the Think Tank discussions in Lausanne in September and again after the Olympic Summit the following month.

The two organisations have been at loggerheads ever since they opted for different paths in the wake of the Russian doping scandal. Those deep wounds opened before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have not quite healed.

WADA Executive Committee member Gian-Franco Kasper, also the President of the International Ski Federation, took a leaf out of IOC President Thomas Bach’s book today, claiming that the media had blown the whole row out of proportion. Try telling that to Sir Craig...

It is difficult see how the feud will be remedied. An item on the agenda of the Foundation Board gathering could lead to an even wider split, with a proposal on the table to establish a three-tier punishment system which will see WADA be given concrete sanctioning powers for the first time. This would increase the amount of weight the organisation carries within the anti-doping movement – something the IOC have always been keen to limit – and could give them the chance to sanction entire countries.

Kasper is staunchly against such an idea, again calling for an independent body to make such decisions as for WADA to be granted additional powers would be “purely political”. His view mirrors that of Bach, with one of his favourite sayings being that he does not support "the prosecutor also being the judge".

"Sanctioning entire countries is purely political and I do not agree with this," Kasper told insidethegames.

"WADA should not be a body which gives sanctions.

"We need an independent body like UNESCO.

"The three-tier system of sanctions makes sense but it shouldn’t be WADA that gives out sanctions."

Independence is a frequent buzzword in the plans to improve the anti-doping system, with a separate testing authority within the framework of WADA among potential plans. This, however, has been met with concerns that it would lead to WADA regulating WADA.

It was also a topic raised at the explosive ANOC General Assembly. Both ANOC and the IOC are thought to be in favour of a "neutral" WADA President, but where exactly do you find such a person? As I was discussing with a colleague earlier, supposed conflicts of interest are everywhere you look and it is difficult to locate anyone who is truly independent.

A personal view is that it is essential to have someone with expertise, or certainly strong knowledge and experience of, anti-doping and the way the whole system works if the vital changes needed are to be implemented successfully.

It is also high time those involved stopped creating working groups and commissions and finally got down to making concrete decisions. For too long, particularly post-Rio 2016, there have been too many talks and meetings and not enough discernible evidence that steps are being taken in the right direction. Actions, as they say, speak far louder than words.

Tomorrow offers the perfect opportunity for the WADA Foundation Board to do just that. If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it is that unity and collaboration, rather than public slanging matches and finger-pointing, are the key in any “way forward”, as is set to be proposed at the meeting.

In an interview with Sky News, UK Anti-Doping head Nicole Sapstead summed this up perfectly. "I think events of the last 12 months have come to a head in terms of anti doping and the integrity of sport, and this weekend about making the decisions that need to be made meaningful and making them count," she said.

Now, those who may have clashed before - and will clash again, no doubt - must set aside their differences. They must remember that, at the end of the day, it is often the athletes who suffer most.