The football rivalry in Glasgow is just about as intense as anywhere in the World and the Old Firm Derby, which ended in 2012 when Rangers FC went bust owing HMRC £56m and hundreds of other creditors tens of millions, has been replaced by the Glasgow Derby in 2015 when the Phoenix Rangers faced Celtic, with all their glorious unbroken history for the first time ever in a Scottish League Cup semi-final.
The new club were so excited by the prospect of playing against Celtic for the first time since Founding Father Charles Green created a club from an off the shelf company in 2012, that they launched a commemorative t-shirt. The old Rangers would have been turning in its grave.
The Glasgow Derby has been just as intense as the Old Firm games and we thought we’d take a look at six games – three Old Firm matches and three Glasgow Derbies – all won by Celtic and especially significant to the Celtic support.
We’ll start at 1957 with the record defeat for Rangers – losing 7-1 to Celtic and that would be a scoreline that the new club would lose by when they played Liverpool in the Champions League at Ibrox this season. Then we’ll end with that one of the most entertaining Glasgow Derbies, featuring end-to-end football, saw Bovada soccer betting odds constantly changing as the game went on, as Celtic trailed twice but each time found an answer to go in level at the break.
The next Celtic set-back was a harsh red card shown to Jozo Simunovic before Moussa Dembele sent Odsonne Edouard in on goal and French Eddie grabbed a glorious winner for Celtic.
Old Firm: Hampden in The Sun, Celtic 7 Rangers 1 – 19th October 1957
The Scottish League Cup final of 1957 made for some historic viewing. For years before the game, Celtic seemed to stagnate in the Scottish League, with Rangers winning the Scottish League Championship for the previous three years. Coming into the fixture, the Ibrox club were massive favourites, tipped for a relatively straight-forward win at a sunny Hampden. But they were in for a shock. Sammy Wilson put Celtic one up and Neil Mochan doubled Celtic’s lead just before the interval.
Things went from bad to worse in the second half for Rangers with Billy McPhail scoring a hat-trick, Neil Mochan getting his second and Willie Fernie rubbed salt into the Rangers wounds by covering a 90th minute penalty kick. The Celtic end may well have chanted, “What’s the time? It’s Seven past Niven!” taunting the Rangers goalkeeper George Niven, who let each shot pass him.
This was the biggest Old Firm victory of all time, the famous song ‘Hampden in the Sun’ originated from this game and can still be heard sung at Celtic Park to this day. Such was Rangers’ embarrassment that Rangers scapegoat defender John Valentine never played for the club again afterward. In fact, the TV feed of the game cut mid-way through the match, which many think was done out of spite at the result.
Old Firm: Ten Men Won the League, Celtic 4 Rangers 2 – 21st May 1979
Undoubtedly one of the most dramatic nights in Celtic’s spectacular, unbroken history, ‘the night ten men won the league’ is one of the top moments in Celtic history. With both Rangers and Celtic neck and neck at the top of the table in 1979 with one game to play, this match was winner takes all for Celtic, while the Ibrox side just needed a draw.
The prize looked as though it was slipping away from the Bhoys, as Celtic conceded a goal early. Things went from bad to worse as Johnny Doyle was sent off early in the second half. But Billy McNeil’s side rallied scoring two goals for a short-lived lead as Rangers levelled the score at 2-2. But Celtic refused to yield, pushed on by the incredible, inspirational Roy Aitken .
A glorious own goal by Colin Jackson put Celtic ahead and with Rangers pushing hard in the closing stages for an equaliser that would essentially give them the title, a Murdo McLeod wonder strike won the game and the title for the Hoops. That Monday night the Jungle, Celtic End and Main Stand at Paradise partied while the Rangers end emptied in minutes. Ten Men Won the League!
Old Firm – Demolition Derby – Celtic 6 Rangers 27th August 2000
In the midst of Martin O’Neill’s glory era, this game will be long remembered by Celtic fans. Over the summer transfer window, the big spending Rangers had upped their budget significantly, spending millions they didn’t have on upgrading their team for a trophy charge in the upcoming season. That made this August victory all the more devastating.
27 Aug 2000: Stilian Petrov of Celtic celebrates during the Scottish Premier League match against Rangers played at Celtic Park, in Glasgow, Scotland. Celtic won the match 6-2. Photo: Stu Forster /Allsport
Chris Sutton opened the scoring in less than 60 seconds, while the likes of Stiliyan Petrov and Paul Lambert made it 3-0 in 11 minutes. While Rangers pulled one back before halftime, Henrik Larsson quickly ensured the game would end in favor of the Hoops, with a fourth goal early in the second half. Larsson and Sutton added another each to make short work of the Gers. This was the perfect start to a season where Celtic would go on to win the Scottish title by 15 points.
THE OLD FIRM ended in 2012 when Rangers died. Here’s where their legends tell the story of the original Ibrox club’s death in their own words.
Glasgow Derby – Dembelition Derby – Celtic 5 theRangers 1 – 10th September 2016
Though feelings are now mixed surrounding Brendan Rodgers as Celtic manager, he did do very well in Glasgow Derbies winning 77% of the Glasgow Derby games he was involved in. This fixture was perhaps his favourite moment, crucial to securing that year’s Scottish Premiership title, but this result wasn’t even his biggest win over theRangers.
Leigh Griffiths failed a fitness test so Moussa Dembele started and ended up scoring a perfect hat-trick, right foot, left foot and a header to become the first Celtic player since Harry Hood to score a hat-trick against an Ibrox club. This was theRangers’ first time in the Scottish Premiership since starting life in the old third division before making their way through the leagues. It was a crushing welcome to the top flight of Scottish football for new club..
Glasgow Derby – A Broomloan Party – theRangers 1 Celtic 5 – 29th April 2017
Celtic were heading towards an Invincible season and travelled to Ibrox backed by 7000 Celtic supporters who enjoyed an unforgettable party in the Broomloan Road stand and this one absolutely broke theRangers support who thereafter lobbied their board reduce the away allocation to just 700.
Mikael Lustig’s fifth goal with his remarkable celebration pulling the short over his head as he ran towards the green and white Broomloan party was perhaps the iconic moment of a joyous day in Govan.
Glasgow Derby – Wit’s the Goalie Darin’ Tom? theRangers 2 Celtic 3 – 11th March 2018
One of the most entertaining Glasgow Derbies, featuring end-to-end football, saw Bovada soccer betting odds constantly changing as the game went on. It allowed Celtic to continue their dominance under Rodgers on their way to another title. With just a caretaker manager following the failure of Rangers boss Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha to combat the Hoops’ absolute dominance of the league, Rangers sought to bring the title race to within touching distance with a win.
But Celtic was having none of it. Despite Rangers going ahead twice in the first half and Jozo Simunovic being controversially sent off, the Hoops thrillingly pulled the game back to win, with the Celtic goals coming from Tom Rogic, Moussa Dembele (Wits the Goalie Daein, Tom?) and Odsonne Edouard. Glorious.
