IT was always going to be about the first Old Firm game.

No matter who is in charge of Rangers, as manager or in the boardroom, every fan is waiting to see where their team is compared to their old pals from across the city.

Since the day a certain Liverpudlian walked up the marble staircase, we have all been counting down the days.

That Rangers had improved was there for all to see. The results have been on the whole pretty good. So, too the performances, especially in Europe where the team have done far better than most of us could have hoped.

Steven Gerrard galvanised a disjointed dressing room, he’s been backed by the board, and the supporters could finally see that something good was happening.

But I have been saying in this column for weeks now that what will really count is how Rangers did at Celtic Park, that the first derby will tell us where the team really is in terms of closing the gap.

It was a disappointing Sunday.

The better team won and Rangers weren’t good. Not good at all.

Now, before I go on, I’m going to start with some positives and it’s hardly all over after one defeat.

Gerrard will know more about his players, the players themselves have been given a boot up the backside, a remidner more needs to come, and on Monday morning they will have got together for a chat about what went wrong and what must be done to put things right.

But it was a poor performance and, if all the Rangers fans are true to themselves, we did well to come away from Parkhead with a 1-0.

We just didn’t get going. We gave Celtic nothing to worry about in the first 45 minutes especially. There had been so much talk of their defence being the weakness and yet neither Alfredo Morelos nor Kyle Lafferty got a sniff of goal.

Did either of them even have a proper chance?

I am resistant to saying the trip to Russia could be used as an excuse. I know they had a lot of travelling to do but an Old Firm game should take care of itself. Not one Rangers players should be feeling tired once the whistle goes.

It was a big test and they fell short. Things, I hope, will be different at the end of December when Celtic travel to Ibrox with their 800 supporters. Ha, that’s me already looking ahead to the next Old Firm game.

Six or seven players made their debut in the fixture and some harsh lessons will have been learned. Nothing prepares you for it. Even the most experienced, the strongest character, can only guess at what that game is all about.

To beat Celtic at any time you need six or seven at least to be at the top of their game. That simple didn’t happen.

Hearts showed that if you get right in Celtic’s faces, if you press them, then they can be got at and beaten. Maybe next time.

The performance of Allan McGregor was immense. He has been superb since coming back and some of the saves he pulled off were top class.

But he was lucky not to be sent off and even luckier that the disciplinary panel didn’t retrospectively take action against the Rangers goalkeeper.

Even McGregor’s manager felt his player could have sent off for the kick out at Kristoffer Ajer.

I find some of the disciplinary decisions utterly baffling. And what is more confusing is what we are not told why the decisions are made.

I am not going to criticise McGregor because he’s been brilliant and goalies do take a lot of hits during the game. I could be guilty of that myself.

However, he needs to learn that once he catches the ball, ignore anyone trying to noise him up and if he can start an attack. He won’t be so lucky next time.