Ignore Rangers and Celtic baloney and it's a shame the dump button isn't for dubious allegations – Hugh Keevins

Banners are all the rage. And rage is on all of the banners. I’ve always described games between Celtic and Rangers as a separate life form – but now it’s gone otherworldly.

An alternative universe inhabited by some people who turn the rivalry between good teams into a joyless experience. Ange Postecoglou and Michael Beale sat at Hampden for a pre-cup final press conference on Tuesday looking like two hostages reading out statements written for them by their captors. The sight of them staring straight ahead, avoiding eye contact, made me think an Englishman and a Greek- Australian had been inducted into the West of Scotland’s odd ways when it comes to this particular fixture and brought down to our level.

Likewise, the idea of someone pre-programming Fashion Sakala to refer to Celtic as the “other mob” when he spoke to the broadcast media this week was an exercise in questionable behaviour. We can only be thankful no-one put the young Zambian up to using one of the more colourful names the fans have for either club and leaving him with a media storm to face.

There is an infantile dimension to this game which regrettably overlooks the professional expertise of the players to concentrate on banality at the expense of their talents. Celtic and Rangers thoroughly deserve to contest today’s Viaplay Cup Final. Some fans should try harder to acknowledge that fact. I understand the concept of there being a deserved winner in an Old Firm game left town a long time ago.

Everything today has to be a fix based on institutionalised bias. But I had to laugh at the use of the word “standards” on the banner displayed by Rangers fans at Livingston last weekend. The group who held up the message ending “uphold the standards that matter”