HAVE we reached a watershed moment in Scottish football? Quite possibly.

On Saturday we witnessed yet another bruising defeat for Rangers at the hands of Celtic, this time coming in the form of a 5-1 hammering in front of a packed Ibrox.

For a derby to be interesting there has to be an idea that it is something of a contest. That either side can win it and it’s not always down to form, that you go into it expecting the unexpected.

The problem with Rangers v Celtic at the moment is that it is anything but a contest. It’s fairly predictable.

Of course, Rangers did manage to get a draw in one Glasgow derby this season but if you are looking at it from a neutral perspective and projecting this down the line, then Celtic are likely to dominate this fixture for quite some time. They have beaten everyone domestically in their path, and Rangers are no exceptions.

From a spectacle point of view, the fixture is only as good as the parity between the two teams. People will always be interested in Celtic v Rangers for various reasons, but has it lost a bit of its sporting appeal?

Roma v Lazio is still interesting because you genuinely don’t know who is going to come out on top. Lazio won 3-1 at the weekend but they are below their city rivals in the table. Their form fluctuates and at this moment in time there is only 8 points between them. It is the same with the Milan derby, they are only three points apart.

It’s rare for one team to run away with all the honours and that can be applied to so many derbies throughout world football. Part of the appeal and the selling point is that anything can happen on the day.

I have been fairly consistent on this. I’ve always said if you were inventing Scottish football from scratch you’d never sell it around one game and make out the rest of the matches aren’t as important. Sadly though, that’s what we have.

You can see the weakness. I’ve never seen anything like the gulf we have between the two teams at the moment. Even at nine in a row the points margin wasn’t like this. Goodness knows for next year?

What you take out of this is Scottish football needs to be sold as a whole and not some four-times-a-year circus act between two Glasgow clubs. That’s the perception in England for a lot of people.

It used to be a selling point but it shouldn’t be the only one. It gives everyone pause for thought.

Those of us working in Scottish football should be looking at the stories within the whole league, and not just those two with the highest percentage of supporters. When it goes to a virtual foregone conclusion it’s not as appealing.

Turning back to footballing matters, it will be of great concern to Rangers supporters how their team has come up short in these derbies. Some have already criticised Pedro Caixinha, but for me it is still too early for that. He is a one-man band and the lack of a director of football is still a major point for the Ibrox club.

The idea of bringing one in makes sense. Everything points to that. I don’t know exactly what the structure is or what they are doing, but recruitment is massive for Rangers this summer.

It’s too early to be blaming Pedro. I don’t know what people expected from this group. They are not third due to tactics, they are where they are based on the players. There is a nine-point gap to Aberdeen in second. They are where they are because they deserve to be.

They need to improve that standard but how? They need to be clever on their budget.

A good director of football goes in with a plan and not just throwing darts against a wall and hoping something sticks. He’ll know where to get his players, that means more than just a strong manager beating his chest and talking about strength and character.

It was clear they were linked to people like Ross Wilson and Robert Rowen, both credible figures, but they weren’t able to make deals with guys like that. It was the same with Paul Mitchell.

All of those people would be very well qualified to take on the job of squad building. Other people need to look at recruitment while head coach focuses on the running of the team.

Caixinha is working with what he has, but you will need to judge him after his summer recruitment process is finished. With, or without, a director of football by his side.