More things change, the more they stay the same; Alan Campbell looks

EMBARRASSING and lop-sided though the early results have been this season, history shows that Scottish football has been in this position before.

In 1967-68, Celtic and Rangers went through their 34-match campaigns losing just one game apiece. Celtic, who, of course, were the European Cup holders, drew three matches to Rangers' five, and so won the championship by two points.

The title holders were knocked out in the first rounds of both the European and Scottish Cups that season, but had the distraction of three violent World Club Championship games against Argentina's Racing Club before they hit top gear in March, 1968. Then they played seven league games and won them all by the kind of margins which are currently causing such angst.

In hammering Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Airdrie, Falkirk, Raith Rovers, St Johnstone and Dundee United, the champions scored 33 goals and conceded just two.

It is rare for the Old Firm clubs to be at the top of their games at the same time, but they were in 1967-68, just as they are now. The difference then was that they were among the very best in the world. Rangers, the previous season, had finished runners-up in the Cup Winners' Cup.

Hibs finished third that season, 16 points behind runners-up Rangers, but if three points had been awarded for a win, instead of two, the Edinburgh side would have finished a full 28 points behind Celtic. And this was a Hibs team which included players of the quality of Pat Stanton, Peter Marinello, Colin Stein and Peter Cormack. In their four games against the Old Firm, Hibs conceded eleven goals and scored only one.

The title was Celtic's third in a row, and the sequence would go on to reach a record-breaking nine. But, prior to the arrival of Jock Stein in January, 1965, the Parkhead side had been struggling badly; after 1967-68 Rangers went into decline. It is worth noting that the Ibrox side won the championship only three times between 1963-64 and 1986-87.

That was not all down to Celtic. Kilmarnock won the title in 1964- 65 and, in the early 1980s, the balance of power switched to Aberdeen and Dundee United. But the point is that when one of the Old Firm clubs is enjoying a period of ascendancy, the other is almost inevitably on the low end of the see-saw.

The Old Firm had started season 1967-68 with famous managers in charge - Stein for Celtic and Scot Symon for Rangers. In November that year Symon was sacked with his club top of the league and Davie White appointed for a two year term during which Rangers won nothing at all.

White could hardly have been more unlucky, though. In 1967-68 Rangers remained undefeated until the very last match of the season, a 3-2 defeat by Aberdeen at Ibrox. That, and a draw at Morton in the third last game cost Rangers the title.

These are early days for Alex McLeish, who has only been in the job for a year, but history will surely judge that Celtic and Rangers both benefited from having outstanding managers in 2002-03. Martin O'Neill and McLeish are sore losers, and this must be a major contributing factor to this season's lop-sided results.

Traditionally (with the exception of Alex Ferguson's reign at Aberdeen) the other clubs in Scotland have never been able to compete with the Old Firm when one, or worse both, is enjoying a purple period. But author and historian Bob Crampsey cannot understand the defeatist attitutde of the other Premierleague managers.

It is inconceivable that Ferguson would admit in public that the Old Firm's resources make them impossible to beat. Indeed, if Fergie's side left Celtic Park or Ibrox with just one point there was a post-mortem on the bus back to Aberdeen.

"I would regard it as a sackable matter if the manager of a club I was in charge of made defeatist comments," said Crampsey.

Certainly, although the Old Firm have been good this season, the other Premierleague managers should examine their psychological tactics. Would a team under the stewardship of Davie Moyes, for example, be on the wrong end of regular cuffings from Celtic and Rangers?

Remarkably in 1967-68, Celtic lost their second match of the season while Rangers lost their last. Between September 17 and April 27 there was not a league defeat between them. Will this season turn out to be quite so two-sided?

The Old Firm's results Sept 9Celtic 3 Clyde 0Partick 0 Rangers 2 Sept 16Rangers 1 Celtic 0 Sept 23Celtic 1 St Johnstone 1Falkirk 0 Rangers 1 Sept 30Stirling Albion 1 Celtic 4Hearts 1 Rangers 1 Oct 7Celtic 4 Hibs 0Motherwell 0 Rangers 2 Oct 14Partick Thistle 1 Celtic 5Clyde 1 Rangers 3 Oct 23Rangers 2 Dundee 0 Oct 24Celtic 4 Motherwell 2 Oct 28 Rangers 0 Dunfermline 0 Nov 4 St Johnstone 2 Rangers 3 Nov 11Airdrie 0 Celtic 2Rangers 1 Morton 0 Nov 15Celtic 3 Kilmarnock 0 Nov 18Celtic 3 Falkirk 0Stirling Albion 2 Rangers 4 Nov 25Raith Rovers 0 Celtic 2Rangers 2 Hibernian 0 Dec 2Celtic 1 Dundee Utd 1Rangers 2 Airdrie 1 Dec 9Celtic 3 Hearts 1 Dec 16Dundee 4 Celtic 5Rangers 10 Raith Rovers 2 Dec 23Morton 0 Celtic 4Rangers 4 Kilmarnock 1 Dec 30Celtic 3 Dunfermline 2Aberdeen 1 Rangers 4 Jan 1Clyde 2 Celtic 3Rangers 5 Partick Thistle 2 Jan 2Celtic 2 Rangers 2 Jan 6 Rangers 2 Falkirk 0 Jan 13 Hearts 2 Rangers 3 Jan 20Hibs 0 Celtic 2Rangers 2 Motherwell 0 Feb 3Celtic 4 Partick Thistle 1Rangers 1 Clyde 0Feb 10Motherwell 0 Celtic 1Dundee 2 Rangers 4 Feb 14Celtic 2 Stirling Albion 0 March 2Kilmarnock 0 Celtic 6Rangers 6 St Johnstone 2 March 6Celtic 4 Aberdeen 1Dunfermline 1 Rangers 2 March 13Celtic 4 Airdrie 0 March 16Falkirk 0 Celtic 3Rangers 5 Stirling Albion 0 March 23Celtic 5 Raith Rovers 0Hibs 1 Rangers 3 March 25St Johnstone 1 Celtic 6 March 30Dundee Utd 0 Celtic 5Airdrie 1 Rangers 2 Apr 3 Dundee United 0 Rangers 0 April 6Hearts 0 Celtic 2Rangers 4 Dundee United 1 April 10Aberdeen 0 Celtic 1 April 13Celtic 5 Dundee 2Raith Rovers 2 Rangers 3 Apr 17 Morton 3 Rangers 3 April 20Celtic 2 Morton 1Kilmarnock 1 Rangers 2 Apr 27 Rangers 2 Aberdeen 3 April 30Dunfermline 1 Celtic 2

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