When a giant Loch Ness Monster jiggled onto centre stage in Delhi four years ago, it might have been excused a grin or two of complacency.

Scotland’s most famous mythical beast had slid into the Indian capital as part of the procedure to hand over the honour of hosting the next Commonweath Games.

The curtain had come down on two weeks of tumult in the Indian capital: a Games marred by superstar stayaways, calamitous construction work, endemic corruption and even more rampant mosquitos.

Surely Glasgow could hardly have chosen a better time to bring the Games back to Scotland?

The good news kept coming as Delhi’s stayaway stars signed up: Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mo Farah all confirmed they will compete in Glasgow and, as women’s boxing makes its debut, they will be joined by Nicola Adams, whose heroic performances at London 2012 made her one of Britain’s favourite stars.

But there are good reasons complacency should be avoided. The last time the Games came to Scotland, in Edinburgh in 1986, they were marred by a boycott by many African and Caribbean nations, and a financial crisis leaving the city shortchanged.

Nor should organisers automatically assume they can improve on what India offered.

Warrington Guardian:

Delhi might have lacked a lot of things, but what it had in spades was soul: from enthusiastic locals to a band of volunteers and back-stage workers who revelled in creating a party atmosphere.

Glasgow will be acutely aware that it can tick preparatory boxes all it likes, but it requires that extra, spontaneous ingredient in order to ensure its Games go down as truly great.

The basic recipe is there: aside from its headline athletics stars, there will also be top-level competition at the Tollcross Park Swimming Centre, where home hero Michael Jamieson will bid for what would be one of the most popular gold medals.

In the shadow of Celtic Park, Wiggins will head a stellar cast at the new velodrome, while across the city at Ibrox the sacred turf will shudder under the hooves of the world’s best stars of rugby sevens.

In the boxing ring, Josh Taylor and Charlie Flynn will lead the host nation in a competition which promises to throw up plenty of high-octane all-British dust-ups, with Wales and Northern Ireland also getting in on the act.

But there is no escaping the fact that, in terms of elite-level competition, the Commonwealth Games can be made to look increasingly anachronistic.

That is why it is essential for the superstars to rub shoulders with lawn bowlers from islands whose entire population could fit comfortably in the away end at Albion Rovers; from shooters fresh from threeweek trips from the Falklands or Saint Helena.

Because that is where the real beauty of the Games lies – as a heady antidote to today’s relentless and largely characterless world of global sporting business.

With its swirling rickshaws and apparently random organisational techniques, Delhi pulled it off in a gleefully haphazard style.

Provided it keeps its nerve and its Loch Ness Monster swagger under wraps, Glasgow can also keep the true spirit of the Commonwealth Games intact.