I was in Rangers vs Celtic crowd for first derby 65 years ago but here is why this one could be weirdest of the lot

I was in the crowd for my first Old Firm derby aged 10 years old. That was 65 years ago.

The one I’ll watch along with everybody else on Sunday might, seven decades later, be the weirdest of the lot.

A win for Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday sends them 20-points clear of their historic rivals.

That’s not a gap. It’s a yawning chasm. A different postcode.

The distance between the clubs would then begin to look like the days when Celtic were in the Premiership and Rangers were languishing in the Championship.

But, at the same time, there also exists the possibility that Barry Ferguson could record successive wins over Brendan Rodgers in the league and run up a third win on the trot for Rangers over Celtic in 2025.

That’s how weird it is on Sunday.

Govan is about to become America’s 51st state.

And what a state 49ers Enterprises will inherit once the takeover paperwork has finally been completed.

But in the city of Glasgow’s private world of looking at matters relative to the Old Firm rivalry, Sunday's game is a stand-alone battle for the right to lord it over the other lot for the duration of the close season.

It is also Ferguson’s last stand. Barry’s not going to get the manager’s job at Ibrox on the back of four wins from 11 matches so far. He knows that himself.

But when the interim manager reverts to his ambassadorial role inside Ibrox on matchdays next season, he would love to pull up a chair in the corporate hospitality section and tell the patrons how it felt to put a blemish on the complexion of the season for the team across the road on the other side of the city.

And that is, partly, what has been Ferguson’s problem while he’s had temporary control of team matters at Ibrox.

He’s got a team full of players who, in the