FOR a competition which once again promises to be every bit as one-sided as it has been since the financial meltdown suffered by Rangers five years ago, there would seem to be an inordinate amount of interest in this season’s Ladbrokes Premiership.

Yes, Leicester City, 5,000-1 outsiders before a ball was kicked, famously beat far wealthier opponents like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur to the Premier League crown in England two seasons ago.

But the chances of any club preventing Celtic from winning their seventh consecutive Scottish title in the 2017/18 campaign - even Aberdeen, their nearest challengers in the last three years, and Rangers, despite the signings their city rivals have made this summer - are non-existent.

It is a question of how many points Brendan Rodgers’s side will triumph by – and last term they finished 30 points in front of the second-placed club - not whether they will prevail.

That is not to say there is no intrigue in store. Are you kidding? The new league season promises to be fascinating in many other respects, looks certain to throw up a succession of fascinating matches, appears guaranteed to make for utterly compelling viewing.

The race for second place will certainly be fascinating. Will Aberdeen be able to make it a hat-trick of runners-up finishes after losing so many key personnel in the close season? Can Rangers edge ahead of their hated adversaries? Could Hearts get their act together and finish above both of them?

Is it even possible that Hibernian could come up and perform as impressively as they did in the second tier last term? Anything is possible. Remember, this is Scottish fitba we are talking about.

Pedro Caixinha, the Rangers manager, predicted that the “cycle” which Aberdeen had been on was nearing an end last season and it was difficult to argue with him. Jonny Hayes, Ryan Jack, Niall McGinn and Ash Taylor, four stalwarts of Derek McInnes’s side, have all departed.

But McInnes, who turned down the chance to move to Sunderland, would appear to have recruited well. Kari Arnason, Ryan Christie, Gary Mackay-Steven, Greg Stewart and Greg Tansey will add both steel and guile.

The Pittodrie club won two of their four meetings with their Ibrox counterparts last season and finished nine points ahead of them. Will they be able to maintain their “cycle”?

Much depends on how their new faces – and those players who Caixinha has brought in – fare in the months ahead.

The Portuguese coach, a shock replacement for Mark Warburton back in March and then some, endured a torrid time of it after arriving in this country and convinced few he was the right appointment.

He presided over a record 5-1 defeat to Celtic at Ibrox - the week after his team had been swatted aside by the same opponents in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden – a first defeat to Aberdeen at home in 26 years and failed to win three games on the spin.

It was, the former Uniao Leiria, Nacional, Santo Laguna and Al-Gharafa manager declared, due to the poor quality of player he had inherited from his predecessor and he set about overhauling his squad.

Andy Halliday, Clint Hill and Barrie McKay were three of the players who moved on, either on loan or for good. Dalcio, Carlos Pena and Alfredo Morelos are among those to have arrived. Will that unheard of trio improve standards significantly? Watch this space.

But Caixinha, who has not been helped in his recruitment drive by Rangers having no scouting network in place, has brought in a couple of undoubted talents in Bruno Alves, the Portugal centre half, and Graham Dorrans, the Scotland midfielder.

That duo was not on board when Rangers crashed to their ignominious Europa League exit to Progres Niederkorn last month. Since arriving, form has improved and results have picked up, albeit in pre-season friendlies.

It is not just the meetings with Aberdeen which will be interesting. Rangers fans are breathless with anticipation about being reunited with their old foes Hibs for the first time since their now infamous Scottish Cup final encounter last year.

Neil Lennon being in charge at Easter Road has clearly added an extra edge to the match at Ibrox a week today. It sold-out earlier this week.

Lennon will be quietly confident returning to Govan having secured the services of Anthony Stokes, the former Celtic striker who scored two goasls in the capital club’s historic cup final triumph, earlier this week.

How Hearts get on will hinge on who they bring in to replace Ian Cathro, whose services were dispensed with on Monday, in the coming weeks. But Christophe Berra and Kyle Lafferty are decent additions to the squad and the opening of the new main stand in November will give the Gorgie club a huge lift.

Patrick Roberts, the Manchester City winger who became a first team Celtic regular towards the tail end of last season, has returned to the Etihad Stadium following the end of his extended loan spell.

But Rodgers has brought in Oliver Ntcham from City for a cool £4.5 million, signed Jonny Hayes from Aberdeen for a fee of around £1 million and has also added Ipswich youngster Kundai Benyu to his squad. His side will maintain their dominance.

Just winning one of the Glasgow derby matches will be progress of sorts for Rangers. But it will sure be fun watching if they can.