In the days leading up to an Old Firm match, Sky Sports usually show highlights from some of the classic ding-dongs and dust-ups to have unfolded over the years between Glasgow’s two most bitter rivals.
The jewel in the broadcaster’s crown in terms of their coverage of Scottish football, the fixture has served up some iconic moments over the years and the highlights packages are often a trip down memory lane for fans.
One of the fixtures often shown was the first meeting of the season back in August 2000, when Martin O’Neill’s new-look Celtic side thrashed Dick Advocaat’s Rangers 6-2 at Parkhead.
The game became known as the ‘Demolition Derby’ among Celtic supporters and was probably best remembered for Henrik Larsson’s sublime dinked finish to lob Stefan Klos from the edge of the box.
This was a time when Celtic had a truly world-class talent in Larsson. They had also just spent £6million to sign Chris Sutton from Chelsea.
Joos Valgaeren and Neil Lennon were two other big-money signings over the course of that season, signed for £4.8m and £5.7m respectively. John Hartson would follow for £6.5m the following summer.
Russell Martin enters tomorrow’s Old Firm derby with fans baying for his blood
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Ibrox youngster Findlay Curtis summed up the frustration of many after the Brugge debacle
The 2000-01 season would see Rangers spend £12m on Tore Andre Flo. Another £4.5m was splashed out on Ronald de Boer, a Champions League winner and a star for Ajax, Barcelona and the Dutch national team.
Advocaat’s squad was packed with talent and proven winners. Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso, Claudio Reyna, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Klos, Michael Mols and Fernando Ricksen.
Yet, almost 25 years to the day, tomorrow’s clash at Ibrox raises an awkward truth for both sides. The Old Firm derby is a pale imitation of its former self.
Rather than the Demolition Derby, where both teams could field star-studded line-ups and produced high-calibre football, this is more like the Doomsday Derby for Russell Martin and Brendan Rodgers.
Rarely in the 136-year history of this fixture can the quality on both sides have been at a lower ebb – and rarely has a feeling of total crisis engulfed both clubs heading into the first derby of the season.
But that’s the state of play heading into tomorrow’s showdown at high noon. For both managers, ashen-faced after Champions League ignominy in midweek, it’s a game they dare not lose.
If Celtic had a bad night against Kairat Almaty in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Rangers took it to a whole new level in Belgium against Club Brugge 24 hours later.
Celtic fans pine for the glory days when they boasted top-class talent like Sutton and Larsson
A star-studded Rangers side claim silverware in 2002… but times have changed drastically
The fallout from Celtic being knocked out by a team of such limited ability saw supporters turn their anger on the club’s board.
It had started in the first leg in Glasgow the previous week, with chants of ‘Sack the Board’ echoing round the stadium. Michael Nicholson and Peter Lawwell, the chief executive and chairman, were the chief targets.
In sending Rodgers into a Champions League qualifier with a squad ill-resourced and in a state of regression from last season, they took a £40m gamble and it backfired.
With a defence of Cameron-Carter Vickers, Liam Scales, Dane Murray and Colby Donovan, Celtic finished the match against Kairat with a back four that belonged more in the Irn Bru Cup than the Champions League.
Unlike much of what he said during similar circumstances back in 2019, Rodgers resisted the urge to open fire on the board. He knew the supporters would essentially do his talking for him.
But here’s the thing. Even with a lack of investment, should Celtic not still have had enough to see off a team from Kazakhstan who sat 315th in the UEFA rankings?
Celtic failed to score a goal over 210 minutes of football. They didn’t deserve to go through. However, in the eyes of supporters, Rodgers was not the guilty party.
Celtic’s vanquished players don’t know where to look after an almighty calamity in Almaty
But what if he was to lose tomorrow against one of the worst Rangers teams in living memory? The scrutiny would turn on him just as much as the club’s board.
There will be a demand from Celtic supporters to go to Ibrox and feast on blue blood, to rip Rangers apart and to expose the wounds that have come from some utterly calamitous defensive displays under Martin.
Across the other side of the city, Martin is clinging on to his job for dear life. The atmosphere around the place is toxic, with fans openly calling for the manager to be sacked.
Late on Wednesday night, after Rangers had just been battered 6-0 by Club Brugge, supporters draped a banner across the front gates at Ibrox which called for his immediate removal as manager.
During the match in Belgium, chants of ‘Martin, get to f****’ were mortifying for a manager barely two months into the job.
More protests are expected tomorrow. More chants calling for Martin to be sacked. And, perhaps most damningly of all, more empty seats.
The fact that so many Rangers fans plan to effectively boycott an Old Firm match is bordering on unthinkable, but that’s where we are at.
Rangers players reel after conceding the third goal to Club Brugge… but things only got worse
Martin spoke after last week’s first leg against Brugge, where his team trailed 3-0 after 20 minutes, that it would be the most difficult atmosphere his players would face in front of the home crowd.
That’s just not true. If Celtic go and score early tomorrow, the place will explode. An atmosphere of total mutiny in the stands would make the manager’s position untenable.
Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe, chairman and vice-chairman, and the two main figures in the takeover deal with the 49ers Enterprises, will both be at the match.
They are going to be in for one hell of a shock unless Martin’s beleaguered side can somehow dig out a result. This ain’t Kansas any more, fellas…
When it was announced yesterday morning that Jose Mourinho had been sacked by Fenerbahce, Rangers fans immediately sat up and took notice.
Mourinho had cast all kinds of flirtatious glances in Rangers’ direction when the teams met in the Europa League last season.
The veteran Portuguese boss admitted that he would be open to managing in Scotland at some point in the future.
Jose Mourinho is a free man after departing Fenerbahce and would be a popular appointment
With Martin’s job hanging by a thread, and fans already clamouring for the Special One, the spectre of Mourinho looms large.
He would undoubtedly bring box-office appeal to Ibrox and would unite a fanbase who are on the brink of spontaneous combustion if this horror show under Martin continues for much longer.
Beyond the style of play and the dreadful results, Martin’s biggest problem is the fact that he already looks to have lost an element of the dressing room.
After seeing his son bombed out of the team in the early weeks of the season, Nico Raskin’s Dad absolutely slaughtered the Rangers manager in a social media post on Thursday.
If Martin is to be retained as manager, Raskin wants to leave ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline. It’s that simple. The club’s best player wants out after being bizarrely discarded.
Martin was grilled on the Raskin situation yesterday and denied that there had been any breakdown in their relationship, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
He refused to confirm whether the Belgian international midfielder would be in the squad to face Celtic.
Something is clearly wrong between Nico Raskin and Russell Martin at Rangers
It’s probably at the point now where it would be more of a surprise to see Raskin’s name on the team-sheet.
It is impossible to shake the feeling that Martin is a manager hopelessly out of his depth, not only tactically, but also in terms of his man-management.
Victory tomorrow would certainly buy him some time. Perhaps not necessarily in the eyes of fans, but in the eyes of the owners who clearly want to stand by him for as long as they can.
As for Rodgers, he doesn’t need to worry about his job security. He just needs to dig out a result that would effectively kill the title race stone dead in August if Celtic were to go nine points clear.
For all the glitz and glamour that was often witnessed in this fixture back in its pomp, this latest edition of the Old Firm rivalry promises to be a far more grisly affair.
