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MAD HAS NEVER WITNESSED
THE MADNESS
Dcember 26th 2008 Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra has been saying that an Old Firm game is tame compared to the Algeria v Egypt derby match. He could well be right because Old Firm games these days bear no resemblance to those of years gone by. Early kick-offs and all-seated stadia are atmosphere killers no matter what game it is but when you combine that with only 7000 away supporters in a 50,000 or 60,000 crowd then it's never going to be great. I miss the days when there were regularly 35,000 fans from either side inside the ground and remember the 1969 Scottish Cup final when 132,000 fans shared Hampden as we routed Rangers 4-0 and the 1971 final when 120,093 supporters witnessed the 1-1 draw. The Wednesday night replay even attracted 103,332 when we beat them 2-1 with goals from Harry Hood and Lou Macari. Whatever the atmosphere these days, it's still the game people want to see and guys like Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane have turned up in the Celtic end at Ibrox in the past to sample it. Tomorrow's game is one which Celtic could afford to lose so I am a bit concerned that Gordon Strachan may not go all out for a win and instead play to avoid defeat in the same manner as our disastrous away European ties. The Celts are on offer at a tempting 9/4 with Skybet and 12/5 is available for the draw. First goalscorer odds are McDonald 7/1, Samaras 15/2, Sheridan 10/1, Maloney 10/1 (is he fit?), Nakamura 14/1, Mizuno 20/1, Loovens is widely available at 22 and 25/1 but Extrabet are offering 40/1. Scott Brown is 18/1 to score first and 9/1 to be the first Celtic scorer. A 1-0 win for the Celts is 17/2, a 2-1 win is 12/1, a 2-0 win is 16/1, a 3-0 win is 50/1 with Blue Square and a 3-1 win is 33/1. If you've had too much drink you might fancy checking out Paddy Power who will give you 150/1 for 4-0, 500/1 for 5-0 and 500/1 for 7-1.
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