GLASGOW is the ultimate city for one-upmanship when it comes to football.

Celtic and Rangers fans have turned scoring points over supporters of their city rivals into an art form in this social media age.

The most inconsequential development can be flipped into a momentous triumph in the blink of an eye or, more often than not, the push of a button by devotees of the Parkhead or Ibrox clubs.

Yet, Light Blues diehards have, even though Philippe Clement has added no fewer than seven new players to his squad this summer and Brendan Rodgers has only brought in two, not exactly been lording it over their Hoops counterparts in recent weeks.

Yes, there have been some inevitable digs about how little transfer activity there has been in the East End of Glasgow compared to Govan online by some imbecilic trolls.

But there are several good reasons why Rangers followers have, even with the start of the 2024/25 season just days away, resisted the temptation to gloat and crow.

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For a start, the acquisitions they have made have been pretty underwhelming.

Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, Sam Lammers, John Lundstram, Robbie McCrorie, Jon McLaughlin, Kemar Roofe have all departed and Connor Goldson and Todd Cantwell look set to exit imminently.

Connor Barron, Vaclav Cerny, Oscar Cortes, Hamza Igamane, Jefte, Liam Kelly and Clinton Nsiala have been brought in to date. Will they be better or worse than they were last term when they finished eight points behind the Scottish champions in the William Hill Premiership? Only time will tell.

But the fact that less than £2.5m, a pittance in the modern day game, has been spent has not exactly gone unnoticed by their fans. Barron, Cerny and Cortes should all do well in their new surroundings. However, the funds which have been made available to Clement have been meagre to say the least.

(Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) The Belgian, who transformed the fortunes of Rangers after he took over from Michael Beale last year and led them to Viaplay Cup glory and into the knockout rounds of the Europa League, admitted earlier this month that the backing he had anticipated had not been forthcoming. “I had other expectations when I came in in October, I have to say,” he said. “But I know the reality now.”

There is another stark truth - Celtic have a tendency to make their most significant acquisitions in the final days of the summer window.

Their fans despair at the unwillingness of their directors to part with their considerable reserves of cash – their half-yearly financial report back in February showed they have £67m sitting in the bank – around this time of year.

So far, they have parted with just £1m for Viljami Sinisalo of Aston Villa. Is it not about time they loosened the purse strings and allowed Rodgers to secure the services of the kind of quality footballers who will enable them to make an impact in the revamped Champions League group stages and maintain their dominance on the home front?

There is, though, a reason that the double winners are firmly in the black. They do not gamble when it comes to transfers, do not take wild punts, do not buy recklessly. They have a tried and tested business model and they do not, despite the intense pressure which is put on them from the stands, deviate from it. Millions will be spent and new faces will be forthcoming. But only when the price is right.

That will mean that the majority of incomings and outgoings will take place at the end of August.  That was the case three years ago when Cameron Carter-Vickers, Josip Juranovic and Jota, a trio who would all contribute great to their Premiership and League Cup -winning campaign, all came in late on.

It was a similar story this time last year. Maik Nawrocki was landed at the end of July, Luis Palma and Nat Phillips joined him at the end of August and Paulo Bernardo only materialised at the beginning of September. It will be exactly the same in the coming weeks.

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Celtic, who will get their title defence underway against Kilmarnock at home on Sunday after the league flag has been unfurled for the third season running, already have the bigger and better squad than Rangers and should be able to safely negotiate the domestic fixtures they have coming up.

(Image: Paul Devlin - SNS Group)

Speculation about midfielder Reo Hatate and playmaker Matt O’Riley moving on persists and they will be big losses if offers are accepted. But they have coped with the loss of big names before and can do so again. Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard and Juranovic, to name just four, have all been replaced.

Their pre-season form – they have beaten DC United, Manchester City and Chelsea in the United States and scored 12 goals in the process – augurs well for the big kick-off this weekend.

But they can ill afford to grow complacent. Rodgers needs, with at least another two European games to get through before Christmas, to have increased options available to him in every position. At the moment, he looks short at left back and up front. Getting Adam Idah back is of paramount importance.   

Rangers still have, despite the adverse publicity which their temporary move from Ibrox to Hampden has generated, an abundance of talent in Jack Butland, James Tavernier, Ben Davies, John Souttar, Leon Balogun, Ridvan Yilmaz, Nicolas Raskin, Mohammed Diomande, Barron, Tom Lawrence, Cerny, Cortes, Rabbi Matondo, Danilo and Cyriel Dessers.

They failed to win against Celtic last season and have a huge psychological hurdle to overcome there if they are to defy expectations and enjoy a successful 2024/25 campaign. But if any chinks appear in their greatest adversaries’ armoury due to a failure to bring in suitable reinforcements they will be well placed to exploit them.

Both Nicolas Kuhn and Idah flourished after arriving back in January and played their part in the Premiership and Scottish Cup triumphs. But Rodgers admitted after that disappointing window that his club needed to be “braver” when they are trying to bring in “another level of player”. Those words still ring true now.