THAT Titan of the sports-writing game, my fellow Ayrshireman Hughie McIlvanney once suggested that were "Smokin' Joe" Frasier and Mohammed Ali ever to find themselves in adjacent wheelchairs as a couple of ninetysomething care home residents, they would still put on a fight which would show-up 21st century boxing for the farce it was.
Similarly, were Celtic and Rangers to be relegated to playing park football on Glasgow Green, the enshrined mutual dislike would ensure a bloody but enthralling 90 minutes, any day of the week. As one former Rangers captain once told me: "Because we spent so much time together with Scotland, and used to meet-up in the city centre in the afternoons, the players always got on well together - but we were careful not to let the fans know this. But, put us on the park at the same time and, for the 90 minutes, it was war - these opponents, above all others, had to be beaten".
I reckon, unless the present-day Celtic give themselves a real shake next week, the loss of the traditional Old Firm fixtures will truly hit home. Overturning a two-goal deficit in Europe is not beyond Neil Lennon's men. In front of the usual band of screaming supporter suspects, inside the cauldron that is Celtic Park on big European nights, beating Borat's Boys, ought not to be an over-taxing ask.
However, the question is - can Scott Brown carry this current lot over the line? The Artmedia game is often brought-up when speaking of Celtic's disasters in Europe. But, it has to be remembered - WGS's team nearly over-hauled a five-goal deficit; therefore, a mere two-goal handicap should not be beyond this current team.
I am not so-sure. Celtic seemed occasionally vulnerable last season, albeit mainly on the road. If the necessary early goal doesn't come along in the second leg. If the team from Kazakstan can frustrate and foil, things might get a wee bit tetchy up Kerrydale Street.
When Rangers went down the road of recruiting a squad of mainly non-Scots, it was hard to reason against their managers. European football calls for a level of technical excellence which has been beyond all but a tiny percentage of football-playing Scots. However, as I have long argued, pulling-on a blue or green and white hooped shirt brings with it demands which are not expected of players with other Scottish clubs.
The Old Firm always needed a solid core of "fans on the park" - the current Celtic team is, I feel, a wee bit lacking in this department.
They should still be good enough to overhaul the opposition and reach the Champions League group stage. If they fail, and, given the defensive frailties demonstrated in the first leg, potential failure and early elimination cannot be totally ruled-out, it will be a hard blow to the buy-cheap, develop and sell-on management strategy being pursued.
But, a season of domestic service just might force Neil Lennon and his paymasters to pay more attention to bringing through some of the potentially-exciting young Scottish players at the club who, at the moment, cannot break through the glass ceiling which is a place on the first team bench, to make up the numbers.
At least, on the Monday-to-Friday banter battlefield of the West of Scotland workplace, the chance to (temporarily) mock Celtic-minded workplace colleagues, which Tuesday afternoon's set-back offered the hard-pressed Rangers fan, has been off-set, for the Celtic-minded, by yet another twist in the continuing soap opera across the city.
Chuckkie boy gets his jotters - cheers from Ra Peepul - then young Darren Cole gets told to stay away from Murray Park, after a breach of discipline. What did he do? Take Ian Black's line to the bookie's?
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