WHAT a pity the oldest game of them all has been reduced and crowbarred in as an afterthought.

Scotland face England tomorrow night in what will go down as these old stagers' 112th official meeting. A sequence now in its 142nd year will be extended.

The rituals will be duly observed. Gordon Strachan will tell us not to be kidded, that losing this friendly would hurt him as much as a kick in the unmentionables. Roy Hodgson will indulge us by saying what we like to hear about the passion and noise and madness of Scottish fans.

After he managed Neuchatal Xamax against Celtic in 1991 he said: "60,000 of them turned up and made our lives a misery for that 90 minutes." (The attendance was recorded as 25,446, but doubtless they made a racket). There will be more of that from him today.

We've had the usual stories of potential crowd trouble and all the baggage which accompanies this game: England's "known" hooligans, their banning orders, the police intelligence suggesting some plan to come to Glasgow and kick off etc, etc. All of this stuff feels familiar, although England fans singing "f*** off Scotland" in Switzerland a few days before the independence referendum did add a novel twist.

But there's never been a Scotland-England game which has felt as neglected and unloved as this one. On one hand fans are being asked to pay up to £60 for tickets: top dollar prices for a premier event.

On the other the game has been shoe-horned in to the diary just days after both countries were far more interested in Euro 2016 qualifiers. Last week Hodgson decided he would rest Joe Hart and Leighton Baines in Glasgow (the Everton man was then injured in any case).

"It's not a question of sending the bulk of the squad home," he said. The very fact he felt the need to clarify that said it all. This friendly has had no build-up whatsoever.

There was barely a question asked about it, or a word written or broadcast, until Saturday. It's not just because of the eye-watering prices that the SFA were still placing advertisements in yesterday's papers to tell folk some tickets were still available. More than 50,000 have gone and that will mean a good turnout, especially as many of England's tickets were returned by supporters unhappy with elements of the FA's distribution.

But if this was a one-off game with a few weeks' run-in it would have sold out long ago. Scotland-England is one of the most lucrative fixtures the SFA can stage but this one has been bolted-on to the back of Friday's all-consuming showdown against the Irish. There was enough mutual backslapping after the Wembley friendly 15 months ago to ensure a swift return fixture and England's first appearance in Glasgow for 15 years. The problem was finding a date. The SFA and the FA decided to wait until after the Euro 2016 draw in February - just in case they were paired in the same group - and by then England's calendar in particular was filling up.

The game tomorrow will be their 13th this year (and only Scotland's seventh). In the next available dates England already have double-headers in March and June. It was tomorrow night or never.

Over the weekend, everyone from Strachan to Wayne Rooney has had something to say. The SFA and the FA are glad to have it back. The media are glad to have it back. At up to £60-a-pop supporters are having to pay through the nose for it. If it's going to be sold as something special and precious it deserves better than to limp into view after qualifiers on a Tuesday night in November. Or to put it another way, some time for a bit of foreplay would have been nice.

And Another Thing

Inadequate media facilities for major games at Parkhead mean managers have to conduct their post-match interviews in a temporary, draughty tent in the car park. Otherwise, the ground will be a fine host of the first Auld Enemy game held away from Hampden or Wembley since 1926.

By Friday it will back as a venue for only Celtic matters, and specifically an annual general meeting at which the board of directors should brace itself to squirm through another prolonged kicking over the issue of paying a living wage. As it did last year, The Celtic Trust has tabled a resolution that the club should become a living wage employer and pay its staff at least £7.65 per hour (above the minimum wage of £6.50).

Celtic are raw about this. Last year the board argued it would cost about £500,000 to apply the living wage to its 178 staff and said those who would be most affected worked only on matchdays to top-up income from another job.

It was a response which drew scathing criticism 12 months ago and certainly will again. Since then, Hearts, with a fraction of Celtic's resources, have admirably committed to paying its staff the living wage. Again, the Celtic board has again recommended that it does not. To a sizeable chunk of disgusted and disenfranchised supporters, the directors' stance is indefensible.