The true essence of what makes the Old Firm game a separate life form will be released into the atmosphere above Celtic Park this afternoon.
Because, for the first time in 14 years, the managerial match-up of Brendan Rodgers and Barry Ferguson will bring together the positive elements of spontaneous combustion which ignite the fixture.
Not since Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist – coincidentally another pairing of Northern Irishman against Scot – squared up to each other on the touchline in 2011, at the end of a game when Walter Smith had to act as peacemaker, has the crackle surrounding the fixture been so clearly audible.
You could argue that a succession of managerial rivalries dating from the time when McCoist replaced his mentor Smith at Ibrox have lacked the intensity that will be brought to this afternoon’s derby. Ferguson’s predecessor Philippe Clement never really ‘got’ the tribalism associated with the occasion – which might explain why he only won one of them in seven attempts.
Likewise, Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Graeme Murty and Michael Beale were like guests at somebody else’s function when they were in Rangers’ dugout on derby day.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ange Postecoglou were photographed having coffee after having met accidentally at breakfast time in a restaurant when they were on opposite sides of the city, which would be regarded as civilised behaviour anywhere else in the world. But not in a city where ritual division is an obligation instead of an optional extra.
Rodgers and Ferguson were born into the rivalry and brought up to understand its importance for the supporters they represent. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of egomania being thrown into the mix as well when it comes to the battle for bragging rights.
Now that Jose Mourinho has been firmly deposited in Ferguson’s back pocket, following the defenestration of Fenerbahce in the Europa League at Ibrox on Thursday night, Rangers’ interim manager would dearly love to put Rodgers in there as well to keep
him company.
And it’s not hard to imagine that Ferguson’s sleep pattern since Thursday has been interrupted by a recurring vision of himself going triumphantly towards the away supporters to acknowledge victory over Celtic today.
Ferguson upholds the finest traditions of the fixture, having no time at all for the opposition while understanding that the rival supporters have nothing but contempt for him in return.
It is mutual loathing on an industrial scale and very likely a source of intense motivation for the man who is facing his first ever Old Firm derby as a manager.
Even if Ferguson and his players have had next to no recovery period after extra time, penalties and a dressing room rave following the European win over Mourinho’s side.
Rangers can now contemplate the Basque country and Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League quarter-finals. That’s better than the barren lands defined by a season without tangible reward of any description in their own country.
No one, though, has mastered the meeting of the Glasgow clubs from a managerial perspective better than Rodgers, whose win ratio sets him apart from all others in history.
When I said, during Brendan’s first engagement here, that for as long as he was Celtic manager, Rangers would live in their shadow it was a cause of outrage.
But the words were accurate then and remain accurate now, bearing in mind that a win for his side today would put Celtic 19 points clear of the Ibrox side at the top of the league table and two games away from confirmation as title winners.
The idea of being another notch on Ferguson’s belt and losing to someone who has never managed in an Old Firm game before, will be offensive to someone like Rodgers, who has an allowably keen appreciation of his own professional worth.
And to lose to the knackered version of Rangers would make matters even worse. But it should be recognised that we have now moved into the realms of clairvoyancy where the remainder of this season is concerned.
Who, other than those who would claim the ability to see the future, could have possibly imagined that Rangers could be three rounds away from winning a European trophy in the midst of a season that has brought them embarrassment, humiliation and a managerial sacking?
I am now waiting for the first radio caller to tell me that a Europa League Final win is infinitely better than what could be a domestic Treble for Celtic. Even a world record-breaking ninth Treble.
And I am poised for the first rival supporter of a nervous disposition calling in to say that a European trophy win for Rangers would make Celtic’s Treble seem like an anti-climax.
The arguments to and fro will substantially enliven what was supposed to be a period when Rangers limped towards an exhausted
conclusion to a season made miserable by their own inadequacies.
The fact that is not the case, or anything like it, has to look good on Ferguson’s temporary employment record. Temporary as in interim manager pending further enquiries into his suitability as a permanent gaffer.
Rodgers, on the other hand, has a history of rich achievement that makes him the most important figure at Celtic Park, bar none.
If his opposite number followed up the winning of his first two-legged European tie with an inaugural victory in the Old Firm game, Ferguson would, at Brendan’s expense, start to make the job of management look easy. And Rodgers, you might imagine, can’t
have that impression being given on his watch.
It is now about the mood swings on the pitch at Celtic Park today while tomorrow is left to take care of itself. A home win gives Celtic two weeks to prepare their title-winning celebrations. An away win gives the losers a fortnight to fester.
It is a game that is an epic in the making instead of one that was supposed to be a formality in the passing due to previous, now outdated, circumstances surrounding Rangers’ collapse on a domestic level.
Stand well back.