YOU always know when the first Old Firm game of the season rolls around, when we see and hear all the usual hyperbole, rhetoric, hype and bluff that we’ve witnessed over past years.

However, this time is a wee bit different. I can’t ever remember a manager, never mind a Rangers manager, getting chances to start with a win.

The jury is still out on Pedro Caixinha. I am still to be convinced, but as we all know, while a victory over your arch-rival Celtic won’t make everything better, it will buy you a bit more time.

That was something Caixinha was given after the last derby, when Rangers were absolutely pummelled in what was his first Old Firm game in charge. Other coaches might not have survived a 5-1 hammering like that.

From my perspective, I thought he was tactically naive, making the midfield narrower on the day, which allowed Celtic to bomb down either flank and rip Rangers asunder.

However, given Pedro was just in the door, the obvious excuse was that he could only go with the players he had at his disaposal, namely, the ones signed by Mark Warburton, who, ultimately had failed the guy who had put faith in them by bringing them to Glasgow in the first place.

It wasn’t Pedro’s team (although it was his formation and tactics which were conveniently overlooked). And most people bought that. Now it is his team, with the cash well and truly splashed during the summer, with the majority of the key players now his recruits.

No excuses this time - except Caixinha the excuses were trotted out again as he dodged another bullet when the Ibrox club were knocked out of the Europa League qualifiers by Niederkorn.

Ah, it was too early in the season for the new players to have gelled. Once more, he was given the benefit of the doubt. But on the eve of the opening Old Firm clash of the season, I reckon a great many supporters won’t really buy any more reasons for failure in key games.

On Tuesday, with a bit of puffing and panting, Rangers made it in to the semi-finals of the Betfred Cup. A  major trophy for the first time in six years would be welcomed those fans that have supported Rangers through thick and thin. But they are realists.

I don’t believe many Rangers fans believed they could win the league title this term. However, what they won’t accept is another year where not only do Rangers fail to challenge or come close to Celtic on the pitch, but, where Aberdeen also finish ahead of them.

The absolute minimum is closing the chasm that existed last season. The purse strings weren’t released for Caixinha to secure third place in the Premiership. Lose on Saturday, and after just seven games, Rangers would be eight points down on Celtic, and by Sunday, could be six off Aberdeen.

That is an ominous position for Rangers to be in this early in the season, and, would immediately suggest that despite talking a good game, and bringing in players who were scouted, identified and ultimately signed, Rangers are no better off  than six months ago, never mind a year. And all of that against a backdrop where domestically, Brendan Rodgers can do absolutely no wrong.

If all of that sound terribly pessimistic, then it’s probably because it’s how I see it. But what I am struggling to see is who will step up to the mark for Rangers.

Some of the best imports ever to grace Scottish football have all said that an Old Firm game is like no other, in terms of the intensity, in terms of the expectation, and, in terms how you are judged as a player.

They never forgot it, and many were taken by surprise, despite having a wealth of international history, or, having played in major derby games and cup finals.

I just do wonder how all the new boys in the Rangers line-up - and there might be a few more depending on the injury situation - will cope with the red-hot atmosphere of Ibrox, and, facing a side that is markedly better, in terms of personnel, experience and success. Rangers don’t have too many veterans to look up to. Kenny Miller is one of them, but as I’ll explain elsewhere, his inclusion would mean all kinds of positional engineering from Caixinha.

Compare that to who Brendan Rodgers has at his disposal; a squad full of guys who know what this match is all about. That’s a Celtic team who has gone the distance, and won, and on the basis of what we have seen this season in Scotland and in Europe, have kicked on again.

Yet, all Rangers might need is one inspired moment of magic, and the home support would be sent away happy – and buy more time for 
Pedro Caixinha to prove the sceptics wrong.