Rangers and Celtic may not actually be located within the English Premiership, but they should be regarded as an acceptable annex. Apart from enjoying automatic entry to the Champions League, Glasgow's twin towers exhibit all the trappings of any of the five-star establishments south of the border.
These include average crowds of almost 50,000 (with millions of pounds banked from season ticket sales before a ball is kicked), being lionised by satellite television and money-thrusting sponsors, and controlling commercial enterprises on a global scale. But the Old Firm's setting, amid so-called competitors who would take years to turn over the £13.5 million Walter Smith has spent on strengthening Rangers in a matter of weeks, gives a lopsided look to the Scottish League championship which begins this afternoon.
It is an indication of the big two's separateness - aloofness may be more appropriate - that they are not even in action on the opening day. Television has decreed that Celtic will play Hibernian at Easter Road tomorrow with a 12.30 p.m. kick-off (an appetiser for the FA Charity Shield later in the day) and that Rangers will open the defence of their championship at home to Hearts on Monday night.
The others - Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Dunfermline at home respectively to Kilmarnock, Dundee United and Motherwell - may be excused a feeling that they have been discarded like sticky wrapping paper by the broadcasting executives who now dictate when combats take place.
Rangers have recruited eight new players - four Italians, a Swede, an Australian, a Finn and a Norwegian - largely from Italian and Dutch football, while Celtic have busied themselves by luring Craig Burley from Chelsea in the Premiership, Henrik Larsson from Feyenoord, Stephane Mahe from Rennes and Darren Jackson from Hibernian.
The new management structure at Celtic - head coach Wim Jansen and general manager Jock Brown - has stimulated as much observation and comment as the players.
Undoubtedly rickety in defence and having lost John Collins and Paul McStay from their midfield in the last 12 months, the Parkhead side nevertheless seem certain to benefit from the expertise of Jansen - Johan Cruyff refers to him as "one of only four men alive worth talking football with". What seems as close to a certainty as is possible is that the champions will once again come from Glasgow.
