CELTIC and Rangers sometimes seem like two planets exerting equal and opposite forces as they orbit around each other. In other words, while they exist independently, they are often defined -rightly or wrongly –in comparison against each other. It is rare indeed, for instance, for fans of both sides to be happy at the same time.

While every Old Firm match affects the delicate equilibrium between the two clubs one way or another, some matches shift the balance of power in the city – and by extension the remainder of Scottish football for the last 34 years - more than others. One manager and his set of players gain ascendancy, while the other goes off to lick their wounds.

As the seconds tick down to Sunday’s first meeting of what seems certain to be an intriguing 2019-20 season at Ibrox on Saturday, Herald and Times Sport casts its mind back to four of these Glasgow grudge matches in recent memory which proved a watershed and shifted momentum from one half of the city to the other.

While he started to make inroads last season, Steven Gerrard, desperate to land the Ibrox side’s first title since 2011, will be hoping that something of that ilk occurs this weekend.

Rangers 5 Celtic 1

August 27, 1988

READ MORE: What Celtic must do to beat Rangers in Sunday's Old Firm

SOME of the Old Firm matches during the Graeme Souness era became the stuff of legend, and not always for the right reasons.

Look no further than the 2-2 draw at the start of 1987, after which Terry Butcher, Chris Woods, Graham Roberts and Frank McAvennie ended up in court.

These were different times in the Scottish game, where clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts and Dundee United were still forces to be reckoned with. When Souness arrived in Govan, no fewer than eight years had passed since the Ibrox side had even finished in Scotland’s top two league spots.

Rangers took the title in his first season, 86-87, only for Celtic to hit back in their centenary year of 1987-88. It wasn’t until the following year that the Ibrox side started to exert the dominance which would see them embark on their run of nine top-flight titles in a row.

This 5-1 victory on a sun-kissed day at Ibrox goes down as the day it all started, even if the Parkhead side got a measure of revenge with a 3-1 win in the club’s next meeting and Joe Miller’s goal would see them get the better of an Old Firm Scottish Cup final.

Anyway, most of the same protagonists were still in place, some 12 months on, and McAvennie was the first to make an impact, delighting the travelling fans by steering a fifth-minute opener past Chris Woods.

But this wasn’t to be Celtic’s day as Ian Andrews, making an Old Firm debut which he never recovered from, had to fish the ball out of his net no fewer than five times.

Ally McCoist got the first before a searing volley from Ray Wilkins got the hosts’ noses in front shortly before half-time.

Andrews’ fluffed his lines one minute into the second period when he misjudged a McCoist headed flick on with Kevin Drinkell in close attendance. Drinkell headed in the fourth after great work from Walters before Walters got in on the act too, tucking the ball away after the referee played advantage for a penalty shout against McCoist. It would be another ten years before Celtic reclaimed the Scottish top-flight title.

Celtic 2 Rangers 0

January 2, 1998

READ MORE: What Rangers must do to beat Celtic in the Old Firm

WAS there ever a bigger momentum shift than the 1997-98 season? The reverberations of this campaign, which saw an ageing Rangers side under Walter Smith were closing in on a tenth title in a row which would have surpassed the domestic achievements of the Libson Lions under Jock Stein, continue today.

Celtic, with Fergus McCann having saved the club and delivered a gleaming new stadium in the East End, were a gathering force now. Dutchman Wim Jansen had been recruited on a mandate to stop title No 10 and recruited the likes of Henrik Larsson and recent European Cup winner Paul Lambert to help him achieve it but he found himself behind the eight ball that season as Marco Negri rattled in goals across the city at an obscene rate.

Things started to turn, though, and in a sense the season hinged – as it often did – on the Glasgow grudge match that January. After a taut first half, it was characteristic that Celtic’s methodical patterns of play that season should see Craig Burley make a trademark burst into the box to fire in the opener. It was rather more surprising to see the unflashy Lambert lashing the clincher into the top corner from 25 yards which flew unerringly into the top corner.

Opening up a five-point advantage on their rivals, Celtic left the stadium that day with a new confidence about them, but you could hardly call the remainder of the title win plain sailing. When a Jonas Thern inspired Rangers beat Celtic twice in short order in the spring, it seemed like this January uprising might only prove to be a false dawn.

Both sides spurned chances as the pressure took hold down the stretch, but a home defeat to Kilmarnock on the penultimate day courtesy of a late Ally Mitchell goal gave Celtic impetus at the last.

The title was theirs, by all of two points, after goals from Henrik Larsson and the much-maligned Harald Brattbakk on a nervy afternoon against St Johnstone. Amazingly, Jansen was out the door just weeks later, apparently in protest about McCann’s reluctance to spend on the team.

Celtic 6 Rangers 2

August 27, 2000

READ MORE: Why Neil Lennon should drop Scott Brown for the Old Firm

REMEMBER this one? With David Murray writing the cheques, Dick Advocaat’s Rangers were an irresistible force up to the turn of the millennium. The Ibrox side were generally winning what they wanted, when they wanted under the Dutchman, a period perhaps best summed up by the ‘shame game’, a day when a rampant Neil McCann inspired Rangers to win the title at Parkhead, rubbing their hosts’ noses in it with a huddle after full time.

The counterpoint to all those dark times came with the release after this remarkable first Old Firm encounter of the Martin O’Neill era. Expensively recruited from Leicester City only that summer, the Northern Irishman’s arrival was a statement of intent from this new Parkhead board and it all crystallised over 90 minutes in the East End of Glasgow which have become known in those parts as ‘Demolition Derby’. The most goals Celtic had scored in this fixture since the 7-1 League Cup win in 1957, it all unfolded under the gaze of Oasis star Noel Gallagher.

By the time Fernando Ricksen, playing right back and being tormented by the likes of Bobby Petta and Lubo Moravcik, got the dreaded hook after 18 minutes, Rangers had shipped three goals.

Old Firm debutant Chris Sutton had opened the scoring on his debut within 51 seconds, a goal which Advocaat vainly claimed was offside. Stilian Petrov nodded in a quickfire second from another corner from the left, and when Lambert strode on from midfield to lash in the third, Rangers’ hopes were already forlorn.

They got one back through Claudio Reyna, a header adjudged just to have crossed the line, and might even have been back at 3-2 when Rod Wallace had the ball in the net only to have it ruled out for an offside which was marginal at best.

The best was yet to come from Celtic, Larsson nutmegging Bert Konterman to embarrass Stefan Klos with the cutest of lobs. While Billy Dodds got a second Rangers goal from the penalty spot, the Swede and Sutton both added another each before the end. 

The match marked the end of Rangers’ period of dominance and the start of one from Celtic. They would go on to complete the treble that year. A bad day for Rangers’ Barry Ferguson got worse, getting involved in a brawl with Celtic supporters after leaving the Bothwell Bridge Hotel.

Celtic 2 Rangers 4

August 31, 2008

READ MORE: How Rangers restored home advantage against Celtic

GORDON Strachan was forced to make savings during his period at Celtic but he was still able to lead the Parkhead side to the title in each of his first three seasons in charge. Having been persuaded back from the Scotland job, Walter Smith had designs on ending all that.

When he brought Rangers across the city in August 2008, it was pretty clear that Rangers were getting closer. Pipped to the title by just three points in the summer, Rangers had reached the Uefa Cup final in Manchester in the campaign just gone – even if they had been embarrassed by FBK Kaunas in the Champions League qualifiers just a couple of weeks before.

They included Kenny Miller, recently of Celtic, in their team for the first Old Firm match of the season, who rewarded them with a couple of fine goals.

But it was Daniel Cousin who go things started, outmuscling and outpacing Mark Wilson before firing home the opener.

Georgios Samaras got an equaliser from close range after a defensive mistake, but the second half belonged to Rangers. Kenny Miller’s angled volley gave them the lead back, and then a great striker from Ibrox new boy Pedro Mendes increased their advantage.

Both teams ended with ten men – Celtic substitute Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink following Daniel Cousin up the tunnel – but this was done as a contest when Miller tapped in after an Artur Boruc error. Shunsuke Nakamura typically steered in a late free kick as consolation.

Rangers were crowned champions by four points that season, the first of three titles in a row during Smith’s second spell.