Just when Ibrox Noise was on the back of losing patience with Celtic fans swarming all over Rangers stories and Jackie Mac having his latest ‘exclusive’ rant about Rangers matters, yet another two ex-Celtic losers have played to the galleries and made headlines by slurring all things Ibrox.

The timing is clear – Rangers have two colossal matches this week which basically define the whole of our season and that of Celtic’s. The second leg of Legia tomorrow, and the Old Firm on Sunday.

It’s a Titanic week.

So what does the Scottish press do?

Wheels out some Celtic youth reject at St Mirren who claims a highly original gag about ‘Ra Zombies ur deid’ while managing to insult and make light of the horror blight at Bury at the same time, and an ex-Celtic player from the 80s (who we remember very well, yes, we’re that old) who’s now in some sort of position with Uefa as a delegate, was wheeled out to call us all sorts of names and degrade us publicly.

It must be Old Firm week and there must be a threat to Celtic here.

We can’t remember a level of smearing of all things Rangers in our press quite with the ferocity of this stuff, and it’s very telling that Steven Gerrard’s men are in a much stronger position than any they’ve enjoyed since late 2011.

Yes, recent form hasn’t been remarkable, but the results have still arrived, and on the week that defines Rangers and Celtic’s season, especially the former, the latter have made absolutely sure the slurs, the digs, and the nonsense aimed at Ibrox has been ramped up to fever pitch.

This stuff must be placed on the dressing room wall, and read over and over again by our players – the manager doesn’t need any better pre-match motivation or speed than telling them to read what fools in the press saying they can’t do.

If Rangers come out this week on top, what a meltdown we’ll see in Scottish football.

What a meltdown indeed.