THE picture that summed up best the signs of a genuine movement away from the old pseudo religious bitterness that has scarred the meeting of Rangers and Celtic for so long was taken at Ibrox at the end of the 0-0 draw between the teams on Saturday.

Celtic's Stephane Mahe and Rangers' Lionel Charbonnier were caught smiling and cuddling each other in an embrace that was certainly a fraternal greeting between Frenchmen but also was a significant milepost en route to sanity.

Of course, players from both sides have been pals in the past and still managed to knock seven bells out of each other when the need arose but the two Frenchmen represented an entirely new era when a majority of the

players of Celtic and Rangers have no conception of the old nonsense and would be totally bamboozled by it in any case.

It will be argued, and with every justification, that it is not the players who carry on the traditional enmities, implanted in innocent minds by adult bigots over many generations, but all of us could name a fair number of men of both persuasions who played in these contests as if they were prepared to die for some misplaced loyalty to a cause.

In the main it is, indeed, the fans - or some fans - of the teams who have been determined to perpetuate the

vindictiveness.

On Rangers' side there are those who conveniently shove to the backs of their minds the fact that the new dawning has brought Catholics in some numbers into the stadium where once it was a sacking offence to have a Catholic girlfriend.

On the Celtic end of the divide are the IRA sympathisers whose songs of war and glory not only defy the non sectarian campaign conducted by the club's leaders but offend many thousands of Scots in this country, Catholic and Protestant.

However, while the two extremes are still alive and spitting out their venom, the transference of that bile to the workers on the field is not so easy when the teams are packed with players who would find it reprehensible to behave like soldiers of hate.

There are many non-members of either squadron who will still regret the passing of the old blood-and-thunder battles when, it is true, the excitement generated by some of the titanic confrontations of the past left the watcher exhausted but thrilled.

However, to enjoy it, the neutral had to blank out the real reasons for the ferocity of the contests and confine himself to the self-delusion that it was a football match.

Thirteen of the 22 starters in Sunday's opening clash of the season came from outwith Scotland, nine of them in the Rangers line-up.

There were two Frenchmen, Mahe and Charbonnier, two Englishmen, Alan Stubbs and Rod Wallace; two Italians, Lorenzo Amoruso and Sergio Porrini; a Swede, Henrik Larsson, a Ukrainian, Andrei Kancheslkis, a Dutchman, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, a Dane, Marc Rieper, an Australian, Craig Moore, a German, Jorg Albertz and an Argentinian, Gabriel Amato.

When you remember that Celtic had Enrico Annoni, an Italian, on the bench and Rangers had an Aussie, Tony Vidmar, you can see where we are going.

Even more indicative is that players like Harald Brattbakk (Norwegian), Regi Blinker (Dutch), and Morten Wieghorst (Danish) were unavailable for Celtic, while Rangers hope to utilise the talents of Arthur Numan (Dutch), Seb Rozental (Chilean) and Daniel Prodan (Romanian), not to mention Anti Niemi (Finnish), in due course this season.

In those circumstances it would be foolish to imagine that the same old routine will prevail just because there are supporters all over the country and beyond who deeply desire that to be the case.

Of course, the songs of detestation will still be sung, the vile slanders will be screamed but even there, the use of modern technology can alleviate some of the 'musical' interludes.

At Ibrox on Sunday when the sound system was used to its decibel utmost during ''Simply The Best'', which has become a kind of anodyne Rangers

anthem (and all the more

welcome for that), the fans had little option but to respond

and, typically, the Celtic lot decided they could sing it just as legitimately.

The truth is that, despite the despairing attempts by some to hang on to an enmity that was always reprehensible but is now simply too old-fashioned to be given space in the modern world, the times they are a'changing.

Some of us will be eternally grateful.