It’s a fixture where first impressions not only last but can forever define how a player is perceived by supporters.
Throughout the 137-year history of Old Firm showdowns, reputations have been enhanced and trashed in equal measure.
For someone at Hampden on Sunday – possibly Celtic winger Sebastian Tounekti or Rangers striker Youssef Chermiti – their first taste of a rivalry like no other will offer a unique opportunity to achieve hero status with the fans.
Some iconic figures on both sides of the Glasgow divide famously hit the ground running on their Old Firm debuts.
Derek Johnstone may just have topped the lot when, aged 16, he scored the winner for Rangers in the 1970 League Cup final. His contemporary Kenny Dalglish has always credited his goal in a 2-0 win at Ibrox the following year as the moment he was taken into the hearts of Celtic followers.
Many others, though, have withered amid the unforgiving scrutiny of the occasion.
Joey Barton battles with Celtic captain Scott Brown on his Old Firm derby debut
Brown and Barton walk off the pitch following Rangers’ heavy defeat in 2016
Ian Andrews, a highly-rated former England Under-21s goalkeeper, never recovered from his part in Celtic’s 5-1 defeat at Ibrox in 1988.
Basile Boli, a Champions League winner when he arrived in Glasgow, looked bewildered at the heart of Rangers’ defence as they lost the fixture 2-0 at home in 1994. It set the tone for his underwhelming spell in Scottish football.
Those are just a couple of examples of how it can all go horribly wrong. Perhaps no-one, though, has endured a more humbling Old Firm debut than that experienced by Joey Barton nine years ago.
The then 33-year-old midfielder was viewed as a statement signing by Rangers when he made his surprise move to the club in the summer of 2016 as they geared up for their return to the top flight.
Instead, it proved to be one of the Ibrox club’s most ill-fated recruitments. Daily Mail Sport looks back at Barton’s fleeting but explosive stint in the Glasgow goldfish bowl.
A rivalry renewed
The 2016-17 season dawned amid heightened anticipation for both Rangers and Celtic supporters.
After a torrid four-year journey through the lower divisions after their financial collapse in 2012, the Ibrox club were trying to establish stability off the pitch under chairman Dave King, who had finally won control of the boardroom in 2015.
On the pitch, the managerial team of Mark Warburton and David Weir had engendered fresh optimism among the fans after romping to the 2015-16 Championship title in their first season in charge.
Warburton shakes hands with Celtic boss Rodgers ahead of the 2016 clash at Parkhead
Belief that former Brentford boss Warburton could carry that momentum into the Premiership had also been fuelled by a dramatic Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic, albeit Rangers then fell short in the final against Hibs.
The return of their old rivals wasn’t taken lightly by Celtic, even though they had just cruised to a fifth consecutive league title.
That Hampden loss to Rangers irked principal shareholder Dermot Desmond to the extent that he decided a dramatic change of management was required.
Three days after the game, it was announced that Ronny Deila would leave at the end of the season. The Norwegian coach was a popular and immensely likeable figure but was undermined by poor results in Europe and a clear sense that Celtic were regressing.
Desmond came up with a box-office replacement in the shape of former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers who was greeted by near messianic scenes when a crowd of over 10,000 turned up at Celtic Park on May 20 simply to witness his formal appointment.
Five days later, Rangers would capture the headlines with a high-profile signing of their own.
My pal Joey
Joey Barton was one of the most instantly recognisable names in British football, if not always for the most edifying reasons.
The former Manchester City and Newcastle United midfielder served just over two months of a six-month prison term in 2008 for an assault in Liverpool city centre. He also had a four-month suspended sentence imposed for a training-ground assault on his City team-mate Ousmane Dabo.
Despite the controversies which surrounded Barton, he had no shortage of admirers for the footballing ability which earned him a full England cap in 2007.
Even at the age of 33 in that summer of 2016, he was operating at a high level and had just been named Burnley’s Player of the Year as they won the Championship title under Sean Dyche.
Barton was Burnley’s Player of the Year after helping them win the Championship in 2015-16
Barton had been expected to stay at Turf Moor for their return to the Premier League but instead turned up in Glasgow to sign a two-year deal with Rangers on May 25.
The catalyst for the move was Frank McParland, his friend and fellow Liverpudlian, who had joined Rangers as head of recruitment under Warburton.
‘I can’t give Frank enough credit for the work he is doing for me and Rangers,’ said Warburton. ‘He has a fantastic eye for a player but is also well connected. A year ago, we wouldn’t have had a chance of bringing someone like Joey Barton to the club.
‘Frank knows Joey very well and that relationship provided us with a great chance of getting him. Joey brings an enormous amount of experience and I’m very excited about what he can do for the team’.
Mind you, there really wasn’t much need for Warburton to talk up his new addition. In a remarkable press conference on the day he signed, the loquacious Barton certainly didn’t hide his own light under a bushel.
‘I have got all the skills needed to deal with this,’ he told the Scottish media. ‘I’ve lived a quite intense period of my life. I understand it is going to be intense up here but I have finally found a level of maturity that is befitting of my standing within the game. My football is reaping the rewards of that.
‘I feel I was the best midfielder in the Championship last year. I think my performances over 46 games proved that.
‘There are some good players up here. But I’m not coming up here to be another player. I’m coming up here to be the best player in the country.’
If that bout of braggadocio raised eyebrows, Barton doubled down on it two weeks later in an interview with talkSPORT host Alan Brazil when he fixed Celtic captain Scott Brown in his crosshairs.
Barton gets the runaround from Brown during the 5-1 win for Celtic
‘Without being disrespectful to the players up there, people keep talking about Joey Barton v Scott Brown,’ he said. ‘He’s not even in my league – he’s nowhere near the level of player I am.
‘He can’t get near me. If I play well, Brown does not stand a chance. That’s not me being blase – that’s just me stating what I believe.’
When Brown was prompted for a response, he appeared unfazed and couldn’t resist a dig at Barton’s previous admission that he owned a replica Celtic top when he was growing up in Liverpool.
‘I’ve not been in his league, he’s in my league,’ said Brown with a smile. ‘I think we’ll get on really well, him being a Celtic fan, so I think we’ll get on great.’
The Dembelition derby
With the first Old Firm clash of the season scheduled for September 10 at Celtic Park, those now increasingly eager to see Barton and Brown cross swords on the pitch had to be patient.
After a false start under Rodgers, when they had to overturn an embarrassing 1-0 first leg defeat to Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar in the Champions League qualifiers, Celtic began to move through the gears.
Scott Sinclair, a marquee £3.5million signing from Aston Villa, hit the ground running with the winner on his debut against Hearts at Tynecastle as the reigning champions started their title defence.
Rangers stalled on the same day, having to come from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Hamilton Accies. Warburton would later lament the display of a giant banner proclaiming ‘Going for 55’ when his team emerged from the Ibrox tunnel that day, insisting it was a case of needless hubris which placed unrealistic expectations of immediate title success on his players.
Barton looks on in despair as Brown applauds the home support
Wins over Dundee and Motherwell were followed by another 1-1 draw, this time against 10-man Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. That meant Rangers travelled to Celtic Park a point behind Rodgers’ side who also had a game in hand.
Barton, reputed to be earning around £20,000-a-week, had made a low-key debut off the bench in a League Cup tie against Annan Athletic before establishing himself in Warburton’s starting line-up.
He showed flashes of quality in subsequent appearances but there were moments of discomfort, too. He was nutmegged by Ali Crawford against Accies and then left trailing in Greg Kiltie’s wake for Killie’s goal.
If reservations about Barton were stirring among the Rangers fans, they retained the hope that the big occasion would bring out the best in him.
Celtic were favourites but Rangers’ chances appeared to be boosted when it emerged that Leigh Griffiths, Scotland’s reigning Player of the Year and top scorer with 40 goals the previous season, would miss out through injury.
Moussa Dembele claimed the first Old Firm hat-trick in 50 years in 2016
His replacement up front was Moussa Dembele, the 20-year-old Frenchman signed from Fulham for just £500,000 that summer. It would be the day a new Celtic hero was born.
Rangers held their own for the opening half hour. However, the first telling clash between Barton and Brown saw the Celtic skipper win a header which led to the corner from which Dembele opened the scoring.
Dembele doubled the lead before Joe Garner pulled one back before half-time, but Rangers simply unravelled after the break against their rampant hosts.
Barton was far from the worst Old Firm debutant on view. That dubious honour went to Philippe Senderos, the former Arsenal defender signed by Rangers a week earlier.
The Swiss international was a proverbial rabbit in the headlights and, after Sinclair made it 3-1 for Celtic, he was sent off with 15 minutes remaining for an inexplicable handball which earned him a second yellow.
Barton shakes hands with Brendan Rodgers at full time
Barton’s misery was completed by having to shuffle back and replace Senderos in central defence for the closing stages which saw Dembele complete the first hat-trick in an Old Firm league game for 50 years. Stuart Armstrong rounded off the 5-1 rout in stoppage time.
The post-match media interviews allowed Brown to pile on the agony for Rangers.
‘Easy, it was fine, it wasn’t a problem,’ he said. ‘There was no battling (with Joey Barton) whatsoever. The scoreline talks for itself. It was pretty much men versus boys at the end of the day.’
It was just Barton’s eighth appearance for Rangers and also his last. The fall-out saw him suspended by Warburton after an angry training-ground clash with team-mate Andy Halliday as they held an inquest into the defeat. The SFA then revealed that Barton was being charged with betting on 44 games since joining the Ibrox side.
There was no way back and, on November 10, Rangers announced that Barton’s contract had been terminated by mutual consent.
A brief but extraordinary episode in Glasgow football lore was over after just 133 days. Another reputation had been bruised and battered in the merciless Old Firm spotlight.
