Rangers and Celtic whataboutery be damned as Martin O'Neill's words hit home

Archie Macpherson, May 1980. Nearly 46 years on, Martin O’Neill provided an equally depressing update on the subject of Old Firm relations. The 74-year-old Celtic manager is the perfect figure to provide an assessment because he has left and then returned. He escaped the asylum and came back. He can gauge the temperature with more devastating accuracy than those of us who might have become inured to the insanity.

“It hasn't lessened,” he said, referring to the spite following the latest shame game between Rangers and Celtic. “Let me put it this way. And if any of us ever come down to this earth in 500 years, it will be exactly the same. Exactly the same.”

While most of us suspected things would never change, regardless of the initiatives put in place, O’Neill’s words hit home. And they might cause Andrew Cavanagh’s ears to prick up. The Rangers chairman was at Ibrox on Sunday and will have heard the offensive singing about the Pope when the Rangers anthem, Simply the Best, was played before kick-off.

The alternative words were sung as loudly as many in the press seats could remember. The stain of sectarianism has never gone away, but it's surprising that it has become amplified on the new owners' watch. Most imagined the Americans would consider such behaviour completely unacceptable in a modern corporate world. They almost certainly do but the suspicion is they have bitten off more than they can chew, both off the pitch and on it.

To be fair, former Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart spoke out strongly following last year's tifo display that depicted Graeme Souness with a rifle, underneath which ran the words: ‘Take Aim Against The Rebel Scum’. A club statement admitted it “crossed a line” and was “unacceptable”. Stewart is no longer chief executive after not even lasting a year in the role.

People come, people go. The fortunes of either side go up and down. And through it all, things just stay the same. It’s why Macpherson’s words, so descriptively uttered as the 1980 Scottish Cup final descended into chaos as Rangers and Celtic fans clashed in front of the legendary commentator, came to mind on Sunday. Perhaps O’Neill’s own take might endure as long. His words are just as depressing. They also underline how little has changed other than there are fewer bottles and more superhero masks.

The latest sorry spectacle was another Scottish Cup tie. Ostensibly, the stakes weren't as high this time around. A quarter-final is not a final. Silverware was not on offer. It wasn’t the showpiece end to the season. It wasn’t even the only Old Firm match played inside the previous seven days. Tension was high, as always on such occasions. But this game differed from any other Old Firm clash in one crucial aspect: it was the first time a meeting between the sides was decided by penalties at one team's own ground.

Hampden has been the setting for such never-jangling scenarios in the past. Not that this justifies what went on afterwards. The meeting might be remembered as historic for another reason: the last Old Firm match where such a large allocation of away fans is permitted. Will away supporters be allowed full stop in upcoming matches? What a wretched step back. What a ghastly own goal at a time of such positivity and interest in Scottish football.

Arriving at Ibrox on Sunday 90 minutes before kick-off, a sense of uneasiness was palpable. A flare shot into the air startled a police horse as Rangers fans gathered further down Edmiston Drive. Uneasiness abounded. The horses were there because the Celtic team buses – yes, there were two - had arrived shortly beforehand, sparking the usual barrage of abuse. Elsewhere, we later learned, Celtic fans forced open the disabled access doors to the Broomloan Stand and swarmed in, ticket or no ticket. Then there’s the graffiti scrawled across surfaces and walls, including reprehensible references to the Ibrox disaster of 1971. The idea that the offences were perpetrated by one side and not the other is fantasy although I have read wise people whom I otherwise respect try to argue this. Whataboutery be damned. Flares were fired by both sets of supporters with little care for the potential serious consequences.

Later, a much-loved building lay smouldering in the centre of Glasgow, a reminder of the destruction a single spark can cause. Bricks and mortar aflame. Landmarks may crumble but old prejudices prevail, as Macpherson put it so powerfully nearly five decades ago.