We all know its not the same club.

We all know its little more than a basket of assets held together by the flimsiest of materials.

But Celtic’s 2-1 win over the plucky, cash strapped newcomers ( ntv fanzine used to always refer to them as such, and there’s yet to be a better way to describe them) wasn’t just eleven against eleven on their home turf.

It was Celtic v the media.

It was Celtic v. the establishement.

It was Celtic v. the SFA.

And no matter which incarnation of them we play, for it will be a long running saga, its always going to be enjoyable for sights like these;

They’re not Rangers, but a section of their support who stubbornly refuse to accept reality think they are, so if it’s alright with them, they’ll be mocked and abused in the same way their predecessors were.

Celtic struggled at first, the atmosphere at Ibrox wasn’t different from when the original side played there, and as a result, the players thought for half an hour or so they were up against a big club, and as a result, they fell behind to a goal from Kenny Miller, the aging talismanic striker , now with his third Old Firm club, and probably doing enough to earn a contract with his fourth.

After a few bizarre refereeing decisions by Steven McLean, hauled from his seat in the main stand when the original referee couldn;t make the game, Celtic began to find their feet, and Moussa Dembele, who always does well against the wee teams, fired in a half volley to send the Broomloan stand into raptures.

The referee wasn;t the only one doing his best for the home side, the two linesmen had their moments as well. One cross field ball from the badly spelt Barrie Mackay found a team mate, but his forward ball was cleared by Emilio Izaguirre, and when it broke to Stuart Armstrong, the linesman, Tory MSP Dougie Ross, he pulled it back for a throw in to “rangers ” , presumably on account of the ball going out of play and coming back in again.

Mind you, I had my doubts about him from the start

We are aware that a change can come over the mildest mannered of men when they go to Ibrox, but it now appears the laws of physics are affected as well.

Not to be outdone, the linesman on the main stand side also contributed to the cause, with his own novel and refreshing interpretation of the offside rule, which may have kept the score down, but put the Celts danders up.

An onslaught in the second half, despite the players enduring six minutes of injury time, saw Celtic move forward with ease and at will. It was at that point just a matter of how many, and to be honest only Wes Foderingham kept the score respectable.

Yes, I know its not Rangers, but it is Ibrox, and its filled on matchdays with the sort of pondlife that makes you disinfect the garden, and so we were treated to a few more sights that put a smile on our faces.

The latter prompted a response that left us in no doubt that the same support has latched onto the new club, ensuring they will be dealt with the same way as the original…

 Before the game, we could smell the fear, now we can feel their hate. And it really is hate;

The tribute to the Lions, now a regular feature of the 67th minute, prompted one fan to question its real meaning..

Another was less than impressed with Celtic fans enjoying themselves..

I don;t think he needs to be too worried about whats going to happen when they win there next…

They can stand by and watch their club die, but throw a few fenians in front of them cheering, and they’re on a war footing. So much so that the taigs are offensive just to look at, and something needs to be done about it;

Or sat at the back of the bus, perhaps.

Scottish society had a chance to remove this nineteenth century British Empire outpost, and remove the hatred and bile at source.

No one had the balls to do it, and this has given them the confidence to carry on with their nonsense.

such as this, which just about sums them up;

Yup. clubs been dead for going on five years, and now they want to make a stand.

Still, one of them went out of his way to wish us all the best;

However, we hear at least one guy has had enough of it, and has asked someone for help…

A feeling which may be echoed by hard man striker joe Garner, as he pondered the benefits of the new Ibrox medical insurance his agent sorted out for him..

This picture was supposedly taken at the Southern General, shortly after the big tough guy forward fell over and hurt himself. which apparently isn’t covered by the clubs insurance.

The Scotsman commented on the picture, and then er, changed its mind..

The chap who sent it should be safe. Investigative reporting isn’t one of the Scotsman’s strong points

Another paper showed , perhaps disrespectfully, the reaction of Brendan Rodgers to a story coming from the Ibrox camp..

The papers are a strange bunch, and their allegiances were laid bare up to, during and after this game.

A game watched, incidentally  by someone who should really have drawn more attention, and certainly more questions…

Not one of the papers asked why this guy was at the game…

Then again, there is probably no need to.

One or two wags on twitter suggested that Celtic supporters should bring little items of toiletries to freshen up the Ibrox toilets, as a response to the trashing of those at Celtic Park, which occurred when the hordes visited the east end a few months ago.

As with anyone of below average intelligence, the sight of the toilets confused a breed who are far more used to simply evacuating their bowels and bladders wherever they fell the need, and they hit out at that which they did not understand.

Celtic fans responded, as ever, with humour, and their good natured poke at the Ibrox fans was picked up by the Evening Times.

Note the tone of the last part of the article..

Celtic fans decorate Ibrox toilet with white and green CANDLES as revenge for Parkhead loo trashing

Celtic fans got their own back on Rangers supporters who trashed the toilets at Parkhead by decorating the Ibrox club’s loos with white and green candles.

The toilets at Celtic Park were damaged after Rangers lost 5-1 during the Old Firm Derby in September.

Cheeky Celtic fans have now taken their revenge, placing scented tealight candles in one of the toilets at Ibrox during yesterday’s Hogmanay clash between Rangers and Celtic. 

One Hoops fan posted a picture of the candles on Twitter with the caption: “You trash our toilets. We leave yours smelling good.”

The prank was praised by fans, with one calling it ‘genius’.

Celtic beat Rangers 2-1 in the first festive Old Firm clash since 2011.

The Parkhead club are now 19 points clear on Rangers in the Premiership.

However, a shout of ‘I hope you die’ interrupted a minute’s silence before the match to remember the victims of the Ibrox disaster.

Sixty six people died in the1971 tragedy. 

The fact that the shout came from one of the staunch Ibrox support is confirmed as the paper, noted for its leaning towards the south side club, is confirmed here, as the incident is recorded with merely a footnote in a feel good Celtic story.

Had there been any chance they could claim it was from the Broomloan, one feels the story would have got more space..

So the league now goes into a winter shutdown. Three weeks without a game, and Celtic will take their players to Dubai, for a few friendlies and a chance to recharge the batteries.

Oh, and it also means that Dembele, Armstrong and any others who may be the subject of over inflated bids from England will be in an area where their phones haven’t got a signal…

Their Ibrox opponents , meanwhile, will have to see if they can survive without any income for a month, which should give us something to chuckle about.

On December 30-Friday-we left you with a picture of newly crowned Knob of the Week Murdo Fraser,  and asked what he was up to,

which gave us a startling and exclusive look into the Conservative party policy for the new year…

It’s a New Year, its the time when we look forward with optimism, with the hope that things will be better for all of us.

From all of us here at Etims, to all of you out there, we wish you all the very best, and  that those with whom you celebrated the arrival of 2017 will be around when we say goodbye to it.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting and thanks for giving us a reason to do this, because if you didn’t read it, we’d have to find other hobbies, which aren’t nearly half as much fun.

In return, we promise to keep trying to make you laugh, to make you think and make you aware of stories that you won;t find anywhere else.

Largely because we make them up.

All the best.