In the more sanitised culture of women’s football, there might’ve been a suggestion that Rangers and Celtic could more closely get along.
But as the women’s game continues to gain notoriety, you can leave that notion at the door.
Scotland’s footballing duopoly dwarf their professional counterparts and across political, religious and Glaswegian fault lines, play out one of the beautiful game’s most special rivalries.
In the men’s game, this has very often boiled over into something a little more serious.
Rangers and Celtic fans might often be friends on the surface but the tension of Old Firm derby day certainly brings out something different in us all around the famous clash.
And not even the women’s game is safe.
Not that the latest coverage surrounding a potentially title-deciding SWPL derby match is a bad thing.
Rangers Women gear up for Celtic clash
The Rangers Women are set to welcome their Celtic counterparts to Broadwood Stadium on Monday at 12pm as the season reaches an exciting crescendo.
Celtic top the SWPL table on goal difference – a substantial 13 goal margin between the Old Firm clubs – with only four games left to play.
Glasgow City – who are last season’s champions and whom Rangers visit after facing Celtic – are six points off the Old Firm clubs.
The Rangers Women are the home team for this weekend’s visit of Celtic and manager Jo Potter will be hoping to add a league title to a potential treble in her first season.
Rangers have already lifted the Sky Sports Cup by thumping Partick Thistle 4-1 with Potter recently handed a new two-year contract.
With a Scottish Women’s Cup Final also on the horizon against Hearts come the end of the season, an incident from the 2-0 semi-final win over Celtic has ramped up the pressure ahead of the league clash.
And far from dissuade anyone to get involved, the war of words between Potter and Celtic counterpart Elena Sadiku is threatening to bring more eyes to the game than ever before.
Sadiku ramps up Potter SWPL war of words
The situation revolves around Celtic holding up the kick off to Rangers’ Scottish Cup semi-final clash against their Old Firm rivals with a pre-match huddle.
The mind games backfired spectacularly, as Chelsea Cornet and Kirsty Howat both scored late on to secure Rangers’ place in the final.
Jo Potter was asked about Celtic’s delaying tactics after the match and was less than impressed.
The ex-England international said: “It doesn’t surprise me, I think when you’ve got to use tactics like that it says a bit more about your mindset.
“Whereas we’re ready to go, we’re on the ball, we didn’t let it us affect us.
“For me it’s the officials that have got to manage that.
“I think in those moments you can see he’s blowing his whistle to make us hurry up and take throw ins in the correct manner but we’re working to a timescale here.
“It’s a bit like, you’re banging on the door to get us out, make sure kick off is on time.
“I just wanted to make sure he was doing his job properly.”
Celtic manager Sadiku was then asked about the comments in the run up to Monday’s game.
And in the Parkhead club’s usual style, some rather classless comments have added an extra dimension to what promises to be an intense clash between the two sides at Broadwood.
In a spiky response, the Swedish manager accused Jo Potter of trying to act ‘tough’ for the media.
“I think what Jo Potter says needs to stand for herself,” said Sadiku.
“We always do the same thing before games but I think she just wants to have something to say and be tough about it, so I don’t care what she’s saying.
“If she says that that’s our mindset, then she can just think that because I couldn’t care less.
“I just think If there’s something that she wants to say to, I don’t know, to feel like she’s better or whatever, like let her say so, I don’t care.”
I’m no psychoanalyst, but we’ve got to say Rangers women Jo Potter comes out of this looking a lot better than Elena Sadiku.
But credit to the Celtic manager, she’s just ramped up a crucial Old Firm derby between the women’s teams which promises to bring plenty of attention and bite to Monday’s game.
