APPARENTLY nobody cares for Scottish football, about what Brendan Rodgers achieves with Celtic or what will happen in what's certain to be a quiet affair down Ibrox way tomorrow afternoon.

That’s according to Craig Bellamy, formerly of this Parish of course, who helped get a bookmaker some much-needed publicity in what had been a bad week for them by spouting off his thoughts about why those south of the border don’t even realise they play football north of Hadrian’s Wall.

Bellamy is hardly a loan voice. Some in England see Stoke-West Brom as a bigger game than anything we have simply because of the league these two clubs, by a geographical fluke, play in.

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Rodgers doesn’t buy this negativity and neither he should. While the game in general here suffers in comparison to the back-slapping, money-making monster that is the Premier League, we do okay and much of that is down to a certain fixture.

There are Celtic fans who recoil at the mere mention of ‘The Old Firm’, however, this is what sells Scottish football to the television companies. Let’s not pretend otherwise. It’s what makes Scottish football known wherever a ball is kicked in anger on this rock we all live on.

Saturday’s match will be watched all over the world. No matter how many times these two play each other, the level of excitement remains.

Nobody ever gets bored of this derby. It’s something Rodgers has always known and he’s please to be in the middle of the maelstrom once again.

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“I think there always will be interest in this game,” said the Celtic manager. “You can't say there isn't. I have been over the world and whatever players I have worked with, and this is in the Premier League, when I know there is a Rangers-Celtic or Celtic-Rangers game on, the boys are glued to it.

“I have been at Chelsea, Swansea, Liverpool. I have been enough canteens - where if the game is on they are watching it. Where they know the intensity and they think 'bloody hell' what type of game it must be to play in.

“This game is box office. Absolutely. There is no question about that. If there is a Celtic-Rangers, Rangers-Celtic game on, people throughout the world will want to hear about it. That is when if you do well, you hear the stories from America, Australia, it is a worldwide game.

“Everyone knows about this fixture. You only need to have seen it to sense it and there’s been enough stories over the years of this game. It’s a special fixture and no matter what people will say - or write - it’s a really special game that’s recognised worldwide."

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Rodgers played a cautious game yesterday. He didn’t bite when asked about Pedro Caixinha saying Celtic had spent more than Rangers, something Rodgers alluded to last week. The Northern Irishman is too smart to get involved, at least now, in such silliness.

He was more interested in talking up his own team which is coming up on 500 days without a domestic defeat.

This Celtic side will lose one day but what the manager can promise is they will never slacken off on a wet Tuesday afternoon, even when it is clear that nobody is going catch them.

“Any player, regardless of their professionalism, can have a bad day,” said Rodgers. “But it’s how they prepare themselves and how they never slacken.

“Of course, we come in every day as coaching staff to start from scratch and be ready, but it is testament in games to how they could have come off it but they haven't. We keep pushing forwards.

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“To have humility around the building is always good. When there are boys like John Clark and Danny McGrain... they will sort them out.”

Celtic are odds-on favourites for Saturday. Last season’s results, five wins, including two 5-1s, and just one draw does point at only one outcome.

Those who say form goes out the window in a Rangers-Celtic game, as it is this weekend, are wrong.

Sure, every so often down the years there has been a surprise result. However, these games are mostly one by the better side and Celtic are most certainly that.

Also, and this is key, those players who can handle the occasion, who know how to avoid getting themselves into trouble, then to come out on top.

Celtic didn’t see a red card in this fixture in the previous campaign and even the number of bookings were well below what you might imagine.

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“That is important,” admitted Rodgers when this was put to him. “I’m proud of the tactical discipline of the team but also the overall discipline in these games.

“You have to be aggressive, of course. We tackle, we fight but you always must keep control. You go into these games and you know how important they are to everyone but the only way you can win them is to play well and play your game.

“I always like my team, no matter how aggressive and how great the pressure is, to be a sporting team and above board.”

Rodgers and Celtic like winning. They don’t get bored of constant success. It is for this reason perhaps more than any other why it’s going to take something out of the ordinary to close the gap.

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“We just keep going,” said the manager. “There’s work to do. We just focus on the next game and never get too caught up or worried about what people are saying. That’s key to the team’s success.

“We know the challenges for this season and one of the pitfalls of success is that people want you disconnected.

"You become a bigger target for teams and people start to talk about your players, but these are all things we anticipated during the summer., so the key for us is to focus on ourselves, focus on our own game and then let our football do the talking.”

Bellamy did some talking this week. It's just a shame he missed so many chances in 2005 at Fir Park when Celtic lost the league title.

I mean, if Scottish football was so bad then why did he not score a handful that day? Just a thought.