Why Celtic need to settle scores at Ibrox as Rangers concerns ensure final Old Firm is no dead rubber

Celtic are keeping themselves ticking over as they work towards a Scottish Cup final appearance, with a treble in their sights, but still three weeks away. Rangers are simply marking time, waiting impatiently for a takeover to be concluded and for an anticipated summer revolution to get underway.

Neither manager has anything really to prove. Brendan Rodgers has delivered another title to Celtic, matching their rivals’ haul of 55. Barry Ferguson’s prospects of remaining manager of Rangers beyond the end of the season look slim at best. With no desire to coach anywhere else if it’s not to be at Ibrox, Ferguson has no need to impress anyone with a tactical masterclass.

Taking all those factors into account, this could well be the closest thing to an Old Firm dead rubber as there has been in recent years. Another three points onto either side’s tallies won’t make a blind bit of difference come the final reckoning.

In Glasgow, however, it is rarely only about what happens throughout the course of the 90 minutes. There is always a bigger picture to be scrutinised, a chance to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both halves of this rivalry, side by side, in an effort to try to make some sort of informed prediction about their respective futures.

The outcome of this match will do little to affect the immediate fortunes of either side but there will be ramifications felt down the line in terms of how these warring factions evolve and grow in the years ahead. That is a constant on the Glasgow see-saw that determines that when one side is up, the other is invariably down.

In the modern era, this has become a traditional duopoly where only one side wins. Celtic have just wrapped up a fourth consecutive championship, their 13th in 14th years. They preside over far greater financial resources, enjoy greater stability behind the scenes and have a much more talented playing squad than Rangers. Much like Bayern Munich in Germany and PSG in France, Celtic begin every campaign as the favourites to retain their title.

They have been so thoroughly dominant across the domestic landscape that it is hard to see anyone laying a glove on them in the years ahead. Celtic and their supporters should be giddy with joy and completely care-free as they close in another treble.

And yet, there are two things that will be irritating and unsettling at least some of them ahead of this match at Ibrox. One is Rangers’ inexplicable domination of this fixture this season. Perhaps unfortunate to lose the Premier Sports Cup final on penalties, Rangers bounced back from that setback by thrashing Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox a few weeks later.

It was a first – and last - derby win for their former manager, Philippe Clement, an outcome precious few could have envisioned given the sides’ vastly disparate form and the chasm that had already developed between first and second in the table.

Adding to that oddity was the fact Rangers managed a massive 24 shots that day from only 39 percent of the possession. It felt like an outlier in a season of overall Celtic superiority only for Rangers, now under Ferguson’s temporary stewardship, to go to Celtic Park in March and win again.

That has set up the prospect of Rangers now becoming the first team to win three successive Glasgow derbies in the league and still not finish the season as champions. The more rational among the Celtic support, 2000 of whom will be allowed back inside Ibrox for the first time in two years, will know that winning trophies far outweighs triumphing in one-off encounters.

The thought of losing another cross-city clash, however, is causing deep angst among some Celtic supporters, including former player Peter Grant who said another Rangers win would be “gut-wrenching”, would take some of the shine off the league triumph and cause him sleepless nights all summer. Blimey. And all said with a straight face, too.

Celtic will be desperate, then, to win just to put an end to that sequence and with it any possibility of Rangers having their number becoming a talking point heading into the first derby of next season. By that point, however, Ferguson will likely be away and both squads will have been overhauled over the summer. It is hard to see a scenario in which Rangers continue to dominate the derbies while Celtic keep winning the trophies. Over a longer period of time, that just doesn’t seem logical.

The pending Ibrox takeover is another factor that some Celtic fans, privately at least, will be slightly concerned about, especially as it is just about the only thing giving their Rangers counterparts hope right now. Ferguson, speaking in supporter/ambassador mode rather than as the interim manager, revealed he had held positive meetings with new sporting director Kevin Thelwell and met senior figures of the American consortium involved in the takeover.

Defeating Celtic again will help maintain that feelgood buzz until those talks can be completed, offering another glimpse that perhaps Rangers’ future can become far more prosperous than the last few seasons. The deadline for season ticket renewals at Ibrox is on Monday and a victory might also help win over a few still swithering on whether to commit once again.

Rodgers said Celtic would be playing “for the pride of our team and our fans” but another win would also remove any nagging self-doubt as they close in that cup final appearance against Aberdeen on May 24. It is all set up for that rarity of derbies, one where nothing and everything are on the line at the same time.