EDGAR DAVIDS went to war with Celtic in the rarefied atmosphere of the Champions League and tasted Parkhead at its most electrifying during the golden days of the Martin O’Neill era.

He does not need to be told of how things have changed at the Ladbrokes Premiership champions in the intervening period and puts it down to one quite simple thing.

“Without Rangers, they are nothing,” stated the Dutchman, still as confrontational in word as he was in deed on the field of play. “You need that rivalry. You need black and white, something old-fashioned like an old rivalry.

“Those matches are what you live for. When big teams play each other, you automatically want to raise your game. You want to see what level you’re at and you know you have to step up.”

Having played for Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Internazionale and Tottenham Hotspur during a long and distinguished career, Davids understands the significance of the derby match in the calendar. He understands the sense of identity those fixtures bring, the way they can shape a city and a club’s mentality.

From the protests which took place at Celtic’s weekend home draw with Ross County, it seems clear that a large section of their fanbase believe the demise of Rangers and the absence of the Old Firm joust for dominance led to their board of directors taking their eye off the ball.

Of course, it took a one-off encounter between the blue and green halves of Glasgow’s great divide – that thrilling encounter decided by a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup – to bring the long-bubbling anger to a head.

Action has been swift. Ronny Deila’s days are numbered and, already, an impressive cast of individuals are circling around the manager’s job.

Davids certainly believes the impending return of the Old Firm derby makes that position all the more attractive. What’s more, he sees Rangers’ promotion to the Premiership as an almighty plus which will galvanise both clubs and reinvigorate the Scottish game.

“Sometimes, I watch the games and I saw one glimpse that Rangers are going to be up in the top league again, so I was happy and delighted for them,” remarked Davids, in Dublin earlier this week to promote a friendly match between his former club, Barcelona, and Celtic in the Aviva Stadium in July.

“They are a big club. It also helps Celtic that they are back. You want those matches. They put the spotlight back on Scottish football. Even if they don’t want to admit it, I think the fans of all the other clubs will be happy as well. They’ll want them there and they’ll want to beat them. They’ll want to show that they are better than them.”

Davids was one of the few living Dutchmen not signed by Rangers during the free-spending days of the Dick Advocaat regime in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Frank and Ronald de Boer, Bert Konterman, Arthur Numan, Michael Mols and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, of course, were among those who did sign on the dotted line.

Davids, instead, found himself linked with Dundee at a later stage in his career. The Dens Park club went as far as speaking to his representatives, but the one-time midfielder admits that Scottish football, even in those relatively prosperous times, never held any appeal for him.

“I spoke to them [the Dutch players] about Rangers and they told me it was quite nice,” he said. “I was also asking them about it, but there was no chance of me going because it was raining there all the time.

“They told me: ‘No more than Amsterdam, my friend, but it is a bit windier!’ They spoke highly of the Old Firm games, though.

“I was too spoiled. I was in Italy and I loved the weather. I wouldn’t go somewhere it rained every day.

“It wasn’t a surprise to me that so many of my international team-mates went there because Advocaat was there. He never approached me directly. I know who Dundee are, of course, but I never heard that they wanted me.”

Now a club ambassador for Barcelona, Davids believes the game against Celtic in the Aviva Stadium will be an enjoyable one for the 51,700-capacity crowd expected.

“This won’t be a friendly,” he said. “If you are Celtic and are playing Barcelona, you can’t play a friendly. Nobody wants to be beaten by large numbers and that could happen if they do play it like a friendly.”

Friendliness on the field was never the combative Davids’s style. Back in 2001, wearing the colours of Juventus, he set about O’Neill’s Celtic side like a rabid terrier, eventually being sent off during the second half of a remarkable match for persistent fouling.

It was Celtic’s first involvement in the Champions League proper, certainly turning up at the cavernous Stadio delle Alpi in Turin with a point to prove. A controversial penalty awarded in the final minute – substitute Nicola Amoruso blatantly dived, converting it himself – led to their 3-2 defeat and plunged O’Neill into a memorable meltdown.

Davids claims, though, that the match is not one etched on the memory.

“I don’t remember the game,” said Davids, injured in the warm-up prior to Celtic’s 4-3 win in the return in Glasgow and forced to watch the unfolding spectacle from the stand.

“I was sent-off many times in my career, though. It was not something unusual.”