Six big Old Firm games: how 6-2 triumph catapulted Celtic into new era under O'Neill

VERY few Old Firm games can be instantly recalled by referring to nothing except the result. There was the "7-1 game" in 1957 and almost three decades later "the 4-4 game". There have been 5-1s in recent times but more than one of those, meaning that even that distinctive score does not stand alone. Only one other game can be brought to mind immediately by its vital statistics. The ignition was pressed on Martin O'Neill's Celtic career when Celtic beat Rangers on a sunny Sunday lunchtime 14-and-a-half years ago. "The 6-2 game".

Some derbies shape a quarter of a season. Some alter the outcome of a league championship. That was the day one empire was psychologically toppled and another rose to take its place. Rangers were in their pomp, the excess of the David Murray/Dick Advocaat era - which would eventually send the club towards its irretrievable tailspin - having reaped extravagant rewards. The previous season's Scottish Premier League was owned by a Rangers team which won the title by 21 points. They won the Scottish Cup too and beat Parma to reach the Champions League group stage. In the summer of 2000 they signed Bert Konterman, Kenny Miller, Peter Lovenkrands, Allan Johnston and Fernando Ricksen to extend their dominance. None of those would be the pivotal arrival in Glasgow. After Dr Jo Venglos and John Barnes/Kenny Dalglish, the appointment of O'Neill was the sign that Celtic meant business at last. Every manager is promised money to spend whether he gets it or not, but Celtic could not play games with O'Neill. Chris Sutton needed some loving after a bruising spell at Chelsea but as O'Neill's first big signing, for £6 million, he was rousing declaration of intent. Joos Valgaeren, Alan Thompson, Didier Agathe and Rab Douglas were recruited too.

This new force shot out of the blocks. 2-1 Dundee United, 1-0 Motherwell, 2-1 Kilmarnock, 4-2 Hearts: 12 points out of 12 going into the Old Firm game. It wasn't good enough to have them top of the league. Rangers won their first four games too, with more goals and a better goal difference. The stage was set for Advoaat's imperious Rangers against O'Neill's rising, expectant Celtic. "After East Anglia, north-west and London derbies it's time for Chris Sutton to stop pussyfooting around," said Sky Sports' coolly accomplished commentator, Ian Crocker. "He's about to discover the real thing, the mother of all derbies." The camera lingered on Sutton during the words, as if it knew what was coming next.

The following 11 minutes were arguably the most extraordinary in Old Firm history. Instant pandemonium. Sutton squirted the ball low into the net from a corner after 51 seconds. That was from a Lubo Moravcik corner and after another eight minutes Stilian Petrov headed another past Stefan Klos. Three more minutes, a Moravcik lay-off to Paul Lambert and a sweet drive for 3-0. Celtic were rampant. In the stands there was euphoric disbelief. And noise. "The atmosphere was electric," said Billy Dodds, one of the Rangers strikers that day. "Honestly, it was scary. I'd been in Old Firm games before but that one was unbelievable. The noise coming out of Parkhead! And it was bang, bang, bang, it got louder and louder and louder, you're thinking f****** hell this is a whirlwind. The stadium was rocking. Oh my God, they took the roof off. You're thinking 'this could be a double figure job if we don't get to grips with it'" Referee Stuart Dougal put it another way: "I've never heard noise like it in my life. Some engineer might tell me it isn't possible but it felt like the stadium was moving. It was a massive, massive outpouring after years of Rangers having the upper hand."

Before long the game was marketed in a Celtic video titled Demolition Derby. These days the game is often misremembered as a relentless flow of Celtic attacks. Actually Rangers steadied the ship. Ricksen's awful debut, tormented by Bobby Petta, ended when he was substituted after just 22 minutes. Advocaat brought on Tugay and reshaped his defence and midfield. Losing Lambert to injury after 36 minutes disrupted Celtic. Claudio Reyna got a header across the line for a Rangers goal five minutes before half-time. Rod Wallace had another "goal" disallowed for offside. When they retreated to the tunnel at the interval, Rangers felt things could have been a whole lot worse.

Iconic games have iconic moments. Celtic had won none of the previous season's four derbies. Larsson had missed them all. Ask a Celtic fan to name Larsson's greatest goal and the most popular response surely would be the unforgettable finish he delivered five minutes into the second half. Sutton did well to lay a long ball into his path but the goal was pure Larsson. Four touches took him away from Tugay and past Konterman. He was through. Some might have rushed their attempt. Larsson clipped the ball with beautiful impertinence over Klos into the net. The chip, the hairband, the dreadlocks, the tongue out: it was classic Larsson. Rangers weren't quite killed off, Dodds scored a penalty for 4-2, but the tide was irrepressible. Larsson headed another goal and Barry Ferguson was sent-off for a second booking. Tempers were up and the Rangers players accused goalkeeper Jonathan Gould of pressurising Dougal to show a red card. It made for an awkward atmosphere when Ferguson, Dodds, Neil McCann were around Gould in the Scotland squad for World Cup qualifier in Latvia over the following days. "It wasn't just toys out of the pram, or spitting the dummy out, but nobody from Rangers spoke to 'Gouldy' cos he had instigated all that," said Dodds. "I remember him rushing and pointing the finger, 'get him off', all that. I got on quite well with Gouldy and I said 'you're out of order, getting a fellow pro sent off'. He was embarrassed about it. We blanked him for three days." Ferguson's day wasn't over. Hours after the game, and still in his Rangers tracksuit, he was assaulted and chased outside a hotel. The tabloids carried "Battle of Bothwell Bridge" headlines.

The football story was elsewhere. It was the story of a new Celtic. The Rangers defence was opened up again and Sutton slid in to score in the 90th minute as he had in the first. Celtic had their highest-scoring derby win since since the '57 game. Ricksen, Konterman and Lorenzo Amoruso were the fall guys and Rangers responded as the did in those days, by spending more money (though not on defenders). Ronald de Boer joined within days and John Hartson would have come too had he not failed a medical. By the time of the next derby they had splurged £12m on Tore Andre Flo. He scored in a 5-1 Rangers win at Ibrox, a remarkable result and performance, but not one which could stem the tide carrying Celtic. Even after that defeat O'Neill's side was 12 points clear and unstoppable. They went on to win the league by 15 points - a 36-point swing in a year - and complete the treble. "There was a sea change that season," said Tom Boyd, who had come off the bench to shore up Celtic's defence at 4-1. "There was a wave of optimism around that season because of Martin being appointed. He had rightly said that Rangers were the benchmark of Scottish football but we reached that and matched it. That result was a huge step."

Up in the Sky commentary box Provan had put things in context before the first ball was kicked. "Rangers have had Celtic in a psychological armlock over the last decade," he said. The 6-2 game released them.