RANGERS v CELTIC

Of all the matters of intrigue about to unfold this afternoon there’s one burning question about to be answered.

Is Greg Docherty capable of a change of the Old Firm guard when it comes to midfield enforcers?

For too long, Celtic’s Scott Brown has had it all his own way, over 10 years of swagger and coasting through these games with sheer power of personality.

That unchallenged status shows the poverty of genuine hardmen during Scottish football’s declining last decade.

If he’s allowed to take ownership of Ibrox in similar fashion, the game will all but be decided in the champions’ favour.

But Docherty has it in him to be an identikit to the Hoops star. Both play with a fire and have been tarred by the accusation of having technical limitations.

There’s a quote from Neil Lennon who was involved in an on-field duel with Brown during his Hibs days when the pair clashed at Easter Road.

He said: “I played against him a few times and he was like me, he was a gobby little f*****!

“He was as gallus as they come, you know? He still has a brilliant engine and when he was 19/20, he had phenomenal running ability. He could handle the ball, he’d like a tackle and liked giving it out.”

Lennon could have been talking about Docherty, the expletive part being the only exception.

Gers boss Graeme Murty has tried to harness Docherty’s drive and desire, that urge to do the jobs for all his team-mates around him.

It’s about trying to coach the 21-year-old to evolve into a composed operator and not get the label once attached to Brown as being an energetic headless chicken.

It’s a tribute to the Celtic leader’s on-field talent that he’s consistently the key man in these encounters but will this weekend be a watershed moment when the young Ibrox pretender attempts to dethrone him?

There’s also a painful truth for those who hail Brown’s displays and attempt to place him among the greats we’ve produced in his position. And it’s this...

He has been a poster boy for Scottish football’s mediocrity, as guilty by association as any for failures with Scotland and his club’s catalogue of continental disasters. But Docherty has his career ahead of him while Brown’s is in its dying embers and the former Hamilton Accies player is arguably more physically imposing and dynamic.

Murty will know the secret to success this afternoon will unquestionably involve trying to stifle Brown’s impact, not just with the ball but to dim his influence without it.

Rangers can put the Celtic skipper’s gas at a peep but it’ll take bravery and guts, which Docherty has in abundance.

And you can put the kettle on for a battle royale which could well boil over.