I snubbed chance to become first Celtic player to leave for Rangers and this is how we stopped 10-in-a-row - Murdo MacLeod

Celtic and Scotland legend Murdo MacLeod is a walking miracle. He has twice battled life-threatening heart conditions and survived to tell the tale - and what a tale it is. His autobiography 'Murdo, Murdo' is the story of his fabulous football journey from the infamous 4-2 game to stopping 10-in-a-row and more in between. And, in an exclusive serialisation, we give readers an insight into this fantastic new book.

I’m not sure if 10-in-a-Row will ever be achieved by either half of the Old Firm. Celtic have reached nine titles in succession twice with Rangers having done it once. Jock Stein managed Celtic to the first nine – but times were different then in respect of the fact that managers had a longer shelf life at any club.

Graeme Souness started Rangers’ nine but left for Liverpool and Walter Smith won the vast majority of their titles when he succeeded him. I knew what I had gained and Walter had lost the day we beat St Johnstone at Celtic Park to stop Gers’ 10-in-a-Row bid. But I had too much respect to be anything other than mindful of Smith’s feelings.

Walter was the Rangers man who was so loved by my late great team-mate Tommy Burns that the family asked him and another Ibrox legend, Ally McCoist, to be pallbearers at Tommy’s funeral. They helped carry his body into St Mary’s Church when cancer tragically took Tommy from us in 2008. There are lines you cannot cross in the Old Firm’s ring-fenced world.

You have never seen, for instance, a Celtic player swap jerseys with a Rangers player – or vice versa – at the end of a derby, no matter how epic the match might have been. And you never will. I was friendly with lots of Rangers players but would never have exchanged jerseys because Celtic fans would not