Nine in a row

Similar and longer winning runs have been recorded in other countries;[5][6][a] however it is in Scotland that the specific term has become most commonplace, having been part of the nation's football landscape since the 1970s, remaining prominent due to the same mark being achieved twice more – but never bettered – in subsequent generations.

At the same time a large contingent of Ulstermen, many of them Orange Order members, moved from the Belfast shipyards to work in those of Govan where Rangers were based, attaching their cultural conditions to the club including the exclusion of Catholics from their workplace, a policy unofficially adopted by Rangers for decades to come and further entrenching the position of the two as polar opposites in Glaswegian society[11] (separate schooling systems for the two communities, initially set up amidst an atmosphere of hostility towards the Irish-Catholic immigrant community, meant that the mindset of local children was typically set on which values should be followed, including football affiliation in a society already fixated on the sport, from a young age).

By then Bertie Auld had returned to the club, and Stein quickly augmented his squad with goalscorer Joe McBride while promoting Jim Craig and retaining veteran goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson whom he had previously allowed to leave Hibs).

[9][26] Celtic's final-day trip to Dunfermline which once more put distance between the Glasgow teams at the conclusion of a very close contest, saw East End Park being packed beyond capacity to see the champions play the Scottish Cup holders, with crush barriers giving way and the game halted several times as a tragedy was only narrowly avoided.

Including David Hay, Lou Macari, George Connelly, Kenny Dalglish and later Danny McGrain and Paul Wilson, this group became increasingly regular over the next few seasons alongside the remaining 'Lions', and signings such as Tommy Callaghan, Harry Hood, Dixie Deans and latterly Andy Lynch, plus long term squad members like Pat McCluskey and Jim Brogan.

They already had a strong spine to their team, including the likes of England goalkeeper Chris Woods, defenders Terry Butcher, John Brown and Richard Gough, home-grown midfielder Ian Durrant, winger Mark Walters and striker Ally McCoist.

Despite the upheaval of Souness leaving at short notice to take over at Liverpool in April, his assistant Walter Smith (who had the same role with Jim McLean at Dundee United) proved to be both a steadying influence and a skilled manager in his own right.

[81] As foreign signings became more common across the world, high-profile arrivals at Ibrox in the mid-1990s who proved to be capable of match-winning performances on a regular basis included Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne[82] and later Jörg Albertz,[83] though others such as Basile Boli, Peter van Vossen and Oleg Salenko had less impact.

[86] Laudrup was the scorer in two 1-0 wins at Celtic Park, and despite the squad being depleted by injuries, it was the Dane who also found the net to confirm the title with the same scoreline away to Dundee United, sparking huge celebrations as the 'nine in a row' record was equalled.

[87][88][89] Rangers spent some £14 million in the summer of 1997, mostly on Italian players,[90] to boost their squad for the 1997–98 season, but defender Lorenzo Amoruso barely played due to injury leading Smith to recall the veteran Richard Gough (who had been allowed to leave for Major League Soccer), and forward Marco Negri was injured mid-season after a prolific initial spell of 27 goals in the first 18 matches.

A deflated Rangers then lost the 1998 Scottish Cup Final to Hearts at Celtic Park, marking a disappointing end to a glorious era for many of their squad including McCall, McCoist, Goram, Durrant and Laudrup (Gascoigne having already been sold on a few months earlier after becoming more of a distracting presence rather than a positive influence around the club).

Needing to compete with Celtic (whose finances were relatively stable with long-term backing from leading shareholder Dermot Desmond) but unable to afford the transfer outlays of the past, Murray began to explore other financial options for Rangers, including an Employee Benefit Trust scheme to supplement wages, something which kept top players at the club in the short term but would have dire consequences further on.

With Alex McLeish now in charge of Rangers, the ending to the 2002–03 Scottish Premier League was almost impossibly dramatic as his side won the title by a margin of one goal (both had 97 points), their 6–1 win on the final day outscoring Celtic who had a 4–0 victory.

With the backing of controversial businessman Vladimir Romanov, Hearts had developed a good squad and they challenged for the 2005–06 Scottish Premier League title, ultimately falling some way short of Gordon Strachan's Celtic but finishing above Rangers, something which had seemed unlikely in the SPL era and leading to McLeish's departure from Ibrox as it became more widely known that the club's finances were in a poor state following the lavish spending of the past decade.

[13] Hearts did claim the Scottish Cup, but in 2006–07 that trophy went to Celtic along with the league title, some way ahead of Rangers who invited Walter Smith to return to the club from his role as national team boss after a chaotic spell for French manager Paul Le Guen.

Smith's Rangers proved themselves superior to Strachan's Celtic in 2008–09, despite the economic situation at the club worsening after David Murray's business interests collapsed in the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the banks that were owed millions escalated moves to recoup their funds via direct involvement at boardroom level to oversee spending.

That summer, Rangers failed to reach agreement with their creditors and entered liquidation, with a new holding company formed; the reformed entity was permitted entry only to the lowest tier of Scottish football, leaving Celtic with an opportunity to build up a period of dominance.

[4] Four more titles racked up for Celtic in subsequent seasons under former captain Neil Lennon[115][116] then Norwegian Ronny Deila, with point margins of victory in the double-digits over Motherwell and Aberdeen on each occasion; however, they won only two of the eight domestic cups played for in that period.

As broadcasting and advertising revenues coming into Scottish football diminished in the absence of one half of its biggest rivalry, Celtic attempted to keep a strong squad capable of making progress in Europe, without overspending on player wages while domestic dominance could be sustained with little difficulty; they became known as a club who sought to use their recruitment network to bring in young players from diverse origins at low cost who would later be sold on to richer English clubs at a profit such as Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk who all joined Southampton for large fees – although publicly the management denied that the status they had acquired as a 'stepping stone' was intentional.

After finishing behind both Edinburgh clubs that season, the Gers gained promotion a year later under manager Mark Warburton and also enjoyed a morale-boosting win over Celtic in the 2015–16 Scottish Cup semi-final which contributed to Deila's departure,[118] though then lost to Hibs in the final.

He quickly made an impact on his players, with noticeable improvements in the likes of academy products James Forrest, Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor and strong performances from new signings Moussa Dembélé and Scott Sinclair, although his first competitive fixture was a defeat to Gibraltarian amateurs Lincoln Red Imps in Champions League qualification.

Caixinha – who never seemed likely to recover from a loss to part-time opponents Progrès Niederkorn in the UEFA Europa League's opening round – failed to last to the end of the calendar year,[120] and his short-term replacement Graeme Murty oversaw two heavy defeats to Celtic in April 2018 before himself being dismissed.

[121] With former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard installed as Rangers' new manager for the 2018–19 season in his maiden role in charge of a senior team and his first experience of Scottish football, his side showed improvement on previous years but developed a habit of dropping points by conceding late goals; at the start of 2019 they were level with Celtic in the Premiership table after winning an Old Firm derby for the first time since 2016, inflicting Rodgers' first defeat in the fixture.

The lack of investment in the squad clearly irritated Rodgers, and despite his team maintaining winning form while Rangers lost theirs to open up an eight-point gap, he decided to accept a position at Leicester City at the end of February 2019.

At Celtic, the owners' desire to remain financially secure and maintain the wage structure via outgoing player sales, which had been a factor in Brendan Rodgers's departure, was again demonstrated when Kieran Tierney moved to Arsenal[124] with little of the record fee used directly for incoming transfers to improve the team, despite Neil Lennon's stated hopes in this regard,[125] after another failure to reach the lucrative Champions League group stage.

Following the winter break, Rangers again produced some poor results whereas Celtic won all their matches, and the Gers were 13 points behind their rivals (with a game in hand) by the time of the next Old Firm fixture – however it was never played, being cancelled at a day's notice due to the developing COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.

Initial signs were that the 2020–21 Scottish Premiership (played almost entirely in empty stadiums due to the pandemic) would be closely fought between the sides,[133][3] with both sets of players under immense pressure and scrutiny to either achieve or prevent the tenth title.

[136][134] With the standard winter break cancelled, Celtic still decided to take a short trip to Dubai only for most of the squad to be forced to self-isolate on returning to Scotland under Covid regulations, and their makeshift team only took three points from four matches while Rangers kept winning to build up a huge 23-point lead by the end of the month.

[141][142][143][144] The Old Firm clubs were then drawn together in the 2020–21 Scottish Cup Round of 16, with the outcome reflecting their respective seasons as a whole: Celtic had several chances but failed to score (an Edouard penalty was saved by Allan McGregor, a returning veteran from their last title win along with Steven Davis), while Rangers attacked effectively, found the net twice and kept a clean sheet to claim the victory and end their rivals' hopes of a trophy.

The result also reinforced the view that the balance of power had firmly shifted to the men from Govan, in contrast to both the long period of Celtic dominance, and also the recent seasons when their strength was fairly even but the Hoops had the edge over the course of a campaign.