Some will say I'm about to venture down a road of hypocrisy here, and not for the first time in my life.

I was at the Bet Butler Stadium at Dumbarton last Saturday revelling in the early evening drizzle when news came through that Celtic had drawn Rangers in the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup.

I couldn't help myself. The internal surges of excitement and anticipation were undeniable. The first Old Firm meeting in over two and a half years, out of nowhere, was an enthralling prospect.

On no subject, surely, have I written more frequently or copiously than the Old Firm: its passion, its dramas, its poisonous bigotry and the rest.

In that time I've also done my fair share of lofty head-shaking and poo-pooing of the fixture…of how Scotland could do without it, of how tawdry and despicable it can be at times.

I've delivered all the lines: the A&E scenarios, the domestic violence spikes, the "scar on society" and the rest.

Yep, done 'em all. I've got the medal for self-righteous disdain. I've utterly deplored the disgusting Old Firm spectacle.

Now I can't wait for the end of January. I can scarcely keep myself from looking ahead to this Hampden cup semi, having been starved of the fixture for so long. I simper quietly to myself just thinking about a Celtic-Rangers match after this Glasgow derby period of purdah.

They - our moral guardians out there - are flashing up their warning signs already about the match. There's trouble ahead. There's yet more poisonous singing to come. A few wives/women are set to take a few blows. Doctors and nurses, like some battle-scarred village on the Western Front, are on a red alert.

If I wanted to I could dig out some of my own stuff about "the Old Firm being a blight on Scottish society". And there is a lot of truth in all this. The fixture can attract everything that is primeval or bad in west of Scotland man.

Well, hurry up and bring it on. Let's just get to the end of January right now. Because, in spite of everything, this is a Celtic-Rangers game to cause a sensory overload.

To be honest, I'm not expecting great football. In fact sometimes - not always - the quality of football in the Glasgow derby can be like something out of the Ayrshire Juniors.

This looming cup tie might fall into that category, such is the panting for it, the lusting for the day to arrive. The atmosphere around it is going to be so charged, so hyped, that I'm not sure much football will break out.

Yet the fixture has been sorely missed by hundreds of thousands of people. For some peculiar reason, a few Rangers and Celtic fans make a point of denying this, affecting not to have missed it at all.

This is The Great Lie. In truth, I would say 99% of Celtic and Rangers fans have really, really missed it. The Old Firm match, warts and all, is absolutely engrossing to take in.

You can smell the cordite already. Bring it on. Hurry up.

ALSO…

Gordon Strachan has included Rangers' 20 year old Lewis Macleod in his 27-man Scotland squad for the games against the Republic of Ireland and England. So, cue the applause and approval of the football nation.

Hang on...what's this? Some are up in arms and positively splenetic at Macleod's international call-up.

There are Dundee United fans and Aberdeen fans raging that, while the young Ranger gets summoned, players like Stuart Armstrong and Ryan Jack have been omitted.

First, let's be clear about this. Macleod is a magnificent Scottish prospect. So whatever the usual arguments are about "if him, then why not him?" there should be no doubting the Rangers player's merit in being selected.

Yes, of course Old Firm players appear to receive an advantage in terms of international call-ups. That is not to be denied. Stevie May, omitted during a stellar season last year for St Johnstone, once more proved this time-honoured truth.

Personally, I'm not disregarding the talents of Armstrong, Jack, Peter Pawlett or anyone else. I just see, in Macleod, a player whose skill genuinely warrants a Scotland call-up.

Well done Gordon Strachan. It's a good shout.