Former Celtic skipper Paul Lambert believes that the Celtic players have missed regular Old Firm games in the course of the last three years.

This season could have seen a return of the fixture but Rangers' failure to win promotion from the Championship last term means that if the teams meet this season, it will be in cup format only.

Celtic beat Rangers comfortably last season in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden and despite the one-sidedness of the contest, Lambert expects that the derby gives rise to a tension that is welcomed by both players and fans alike.

“If you are playing the political card, I wouldn’t like not to play them,” said Lambert. “As a player, you want to play them, I don’t care what anyone says. Even for the city, for Scotland as a whole, it is not good to not have them in the league.

“I know from my time at Celtic that the Old Firm games were unbelievable because both teams were really powerful, stadiums were full and the games were nip and tuck as was which the league was going to go. As an outsider, I think the city needs them back in.

“I know that the games wouldn’t necessarily be nip and tuck. But the atmosphere is still there. You could play Old Firm games on the moon and they would still sell out.

Lambert had the fixture to thank for the loss of his teeth and a dislocated jaw after one clash with Jorg Albertz at Ibrox when the German’s knee met Lambert’s face.

It was a brutal collision at a time when Celtic were playing second fiddle to their Ibrox counterparts.

Lambert, though, became a vital cog in the Martin O’Neill Celtic side who enjoyed considerable success and although the spending power of both Celtic and especially Rangers is on a far less substantial level now than it was then, he believes the clash between the two giants will always be a selling point.

“Both Old Firm teams were very strong. Rangers were pulling the De Boers, and Michael Mols and Stefan Klos and Celtic had top players too,” he recalled. “The two of them were good teams and they were brilliant games to play in. It was not just blood and thunder games because they were two really top sides.

“You are hoping that bridge closes because if you ask any Celtic player, they would want to play them. I know the League Cup game was a one-sided affair, but for the game up here it would be good.”

Lambert was also part of the last Scotland squad who made it to a major international tournament when they were at the World Cup in France in 1998.

Gordon Strachan’s side are still in the running for landing a place at the European Championships next summer and Lambert believes it is the best chance the country has had in a decade of landing an invite to a prestigious competition.

“I said to you before the Ireland game that if Scotland could walk away from Dublin with a point it would be a good result,” he said. “Ireland are still in it. I think there will be a lot of toing and froing but Scotland are in a good position.

“It will go close but they are in a strong position. The good think about Scotland at the minute is that the whole country is with them. The crowd is with them, that eagerness of not being too far away from going to a major international tournament is the big thing, especially at home. They are in it. This is the best chance they have had for a long, long time.”

Lambert, meanwhile, was speaking at a press conference to promote Spohrt – a career advisory service for sports professionals devised and administered by ex-St Mirren defender Roddy Manley.

It is a service which urges young players heading into the game to consider their future seriously should football not work out – and Lambert has admitted that he was fortunate to prevail in the game since he was never going to be cut out to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Lambert’s father, a roofer, took him to work with one shift sufficient to encourage the former Borussia Dortmund player to knuckle down on the training pitch.

My Dad took me out when I was about 15 and I thought ‘I can never do this.’” he admitted. “That was proper graft. And then you see the nick of your Dad in later life and you think thank God I never went down that road – it is proper work.

“People used to see football as a hobby and it is to an extent but it is also your job and to make a living out of that in a short space of time. When you are talking about a roofer or a slater or a builder – it is proper work. I was fortunate that I had a decent career.”