When Celtic run on to the Ibrox pitch on Sunday amid the usual sound and fury, they will be looking for their first win in a Premiership derby since September 1 last year.
It’s a stat that shouldn’t trouble supporters of a club who won the league title by 17 points last season, and may well do again by a similar margin this time round.
However, in the Old Firm hothouse – where beating your rivals trumps just about everything else – this is the kind of stuff that really does matter.
After a nightmare week for both clubs, Rangers and Celtic go into their first encounter of the new campaign like two drunks staggering into a Glasgow pub.
Rangers fans chanted for Russell Martin to be sacked during a 6-0 humiliation by Club Brugge in Belgium on Wednesday. The team’s staggeringly poor performance summed up the complete mess that the early months of his tenure has become.
Equally grim were the events of the night before in Kazakhstan, when the psychodrama that is Brendan Rodgers’ transfer squabble with the Parkhead board ended in defeat to Kairat Almaty.
Cyriel Dessers scores for Rangers in the 1-1 draw with Celtic at Ibrox last May
Adam Idah celebrates his equaliser for the Parkhead side in last season’s fixture in Govan
What we will witness in Govan on Sunday, then, is the sorry sight of two chastened giants intent on winning a local skirmish when they have just lost a larger European war.
And therein lies the problem for Rangers and Celtic, who still carry the airs and graces of footballing superpowers but are really no more than wounded foot soldiers in the grand scheme of things.
Their unhealthy preoccupation with one other – including those macho assertions that second place means nothing in Glasgow – has jeopardised their long-term prospects of making a serious impact on the Continental stage.
The Ibrox club had a golden opportunity to change themselves for the better – to transform their whole ethos in fact – during ‘The Journey’ from League Two back to the top flight a decade ago.
Without the burden of having to constantly prove themselves against Celtic for a few seasons, the platform was there to build a new and lasting football model mixing the best of young Scottish talent with experienced operators.
Needless to say, an open goal was missed. On their return to the Premiership, the overwhelming desire to topple their city foes – including successfully halting the fabled Ten In A Row – resulted in the short-term solution of signing players from England and abroad.
It’s a pattern that has continued until now, as could be seen in the haunted faces of the less-than-average players who trudged off the pitch at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday.
Celtic’s unrivalled dominance of the domestic scene naturally took root while their foes were still digging their way back up the leagues.
Celtic go into Sunday’s Old Firm showdown on a major downer after Kairat Almaty knocked them out of the Champions League in a penalty shootout
Rangers are in total disarray after they were eliminated from the same tournament following a 6-0 hiding by Club Brugge
However, it’s open to debate if they really made the best use of those years, during which they often appeared to be lost without their city neighbours, and certainly in the same kind of limbo.
On Rangers’ return, Celtic’s bid for Ten In A Row – that ultimate show of oneupmanship – took precedence over everything else.
The much-vaunted player-trading model has worked well to an extent, and they certainly have plenty of money in the bank.
But, after the dismal events of this week, they are no further forward in making a decent crack at European competition.
Everyone and their granny has had an opinion on why the board didn’t furnish Rodgers with the signings he craved ahead of the ill-fated Champions League qualifer.
It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to suggest that, having gained the easiest-looking draw in Kairat Almaty, they reckoned hitting the £40million jackpot was well within the grasp of the current squad.
And, having looked across the city at the ongoing shambles under Martin at Ibrox, felt the golden ticket to next year’s Champions League courtesy of lifting the Scottish title was probably in the bag, too.
If so, that would be the kind of complacent thought process that seems to be at the heart of the Old Firm’s woes.
Rangers boss Russell Martin badly needs a win on Sunday if calls for his sacking are not to become deafening
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will be desperate to bounce back after his team’s miserable attempt to reach Champions League
It also sums up this tedious two-horse race at the summit of the SPFL (where are you when we need you, Fergie?), one where the team who finish first, i.e Celtic, think they are better than they actually are, and the one who finish second, i.e. Rangers, end up constantly sacking their managers.
There’s no middle ground with this pair. No breathing space for proper development of young players. One club can only succeed if the other is seen to be failing.
The new American owners at Ibrox obviously realise that patience with a manager can pay dividends, as has been shown with Daniel Farke at Leeds.
Whether Russell Martin is the right man to lead the project they have in mind north of the border now looks extremely doubtful.
Which brings us back to Sunday’s match at Ibrox, where the gaudy carousel of a Rangers-Celtic fixture prepares to spin one more time.
The one thing that can be guaranteed is that, if a winner emerges from the contest, everything will be rosy in the world of that team’s supporters for another week – and those hellish experiences in Europe will be forgotten.
That’s exactly where both clubs need to have a re-think. With qualifying for the Champions League only set to become tougher in future, even for Scotland’s title winners, they need to stop worrying so much about each other and more about how they are going to become a force in an elite European game that’s threatening to leave them behind.
Having money to burn like Celtic is all very well but, when top players are never likely to come to Scotland until well into their dotage, the cash only goes so far
As always, the subplots this weekend are numerous. Chief among them is how a defeat would affect Martin, albeit Rodgers also badly needs a win after his own disastrous week.
Yes, millions will tune in for the spectacle of the so-called greatest derby in the world on Sunday, but this battle of the Euro flops is becoming more of a curiosity piece these days than a must-watch.
