Extreme excitement at The Rangers shows they know they can't touch Celtic

You only have to watch the reactions of fans of The Rangers as their black ball comes out of the bag, signalling a Scottish cup semi-final against Celtic to realise, that our domestic football world is unipolar.

Supporters of Tranmere Rovers might exude similar excitement, if drawn against Liverpool but a better comparison would be with Accrington Stanley.

You see, the people are guaranteed their big day out. They know they can “get the battle fever on” (© Jock Wallace) and eye-poppingly spew bile about which legend-in-the-making is going to nail whichever Celtic player is commanding their immediate irrational hostility.

In truth, the post-liquidation Ibrox club of Warburton, Caixinha and Murty hasn’t quite lived up to its ancestors in demonstrating the art of kicking seven shades of biological waste material out of their opponents.

Sure, they signed Bruno Alves and, yes, he looks like a bad-ass mudda but generally, they haven’t been quite as cynical on the field as Rangers were famed for until 2012.

But the frothing fans have, if anything, got worse. It’s something akin to the British Empire mentality.

When Britain was successfully running roughshod over countries across the world, you would hardly imagine that its supporters felt they had much to prove. They were on top of the world and retained an arrogant presumption that it would always be that way.

Now that the empire is consigned to history, however, those who never accepted that fact are more aggressive than ever in pretending that things are as they were. Talking up their chances of having a square go with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, etc.

But the reality is that Britain will never seriously compete for supremacy of any kind again and that any realignment of Scottish football is unlikely to feature a duopoly of Glasgow clubs.

And that’s why fans – and players – of The Rangers were cheering being drawn against Celtic in the cup. They’ve got a little confidence after a string of modest results and they think that they are back in the big time.

And that means Celtic.

Fans of very few Scottish Premiership clubs would be celebrating at drawing any team. The “big draw” is the stuff to excite small clubs who will relish the chance to be the talk of the country for a day. And, maybe – just maybe – they’ll give the big bhoys a bloody nose.

It’s comparable to the excitement Celtic fans used to feel when drawing Barcelona – but being skelped by Barcelona quickly grew tiresome and, while every dog inevitably has its day, The time when The Rangers emerge as a major power in Scottish football is not yet upon us.

While the papers will stoke the anticipation of the tie, the reality is that in footballing terms it’s probably the kindest that Celtic could have hoped for.

Aberdeen and Kilmarnock would have been more dangerous and the fewer times we play Motherwell with their tactical violence the better.

Kilmarnock and Hearts have already beaten Celtic this season so, logically, there is a possibility of The Rangers emulating them if we don’t play to top form.

But that’s the point – if the Celtic players perform close to their best, we will win.

And the dogs, who feel they have been thrown a bone, will have to wait for another day.

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