And lo, another Glasgow derby day is almost upon us. The fourth in the league, the fifth of the season. It's 3-1 to Celtic at the minute.

It will, as usual, be fierce. Yet some of the sting has been removed from this tale. Celtic won the league at a canter and are 90 minutes away from a domestic treble. Aside from brief tribal ascendancy, that means the most pressing question arising out of Ibrox stadium tomorrow is: Whither Rangers?

It is an odd query to put given that Rangers are as formidable and reputedly stable an institution as the Bank of Scotland. But the bank was the subject of a takeover bid this week and Rangers fans would be entitled to be thinking that they have already been the victim of one this season. This time last year, after all, Rangers were about to win the Scottish Premier League by a record 21 points; yet Celtic have already surpassed that total and could well win the SPL by more than 21 points.

That is not so much a takeover as a revolution. Scotland's natural order - the order according to Rangers - has been stood on its head by Martin O'Neill. It has left the two main men at Ibrox exposed. Manager Dick Advocaat and chairman David Murray, who owns 62 per cent of the club, now face the task of covering over the cracks that have appeared while simultaneously laying foundations for a restored challenge in August.

The large assumption in that statement - that Advocaat will be around after the summer - should be dealt with first. Advocaat has one year left on his contract and there have been newspaper stories suggesting that, either he will be lucky to see out the year, or that he will walk away. Both seem flawed predictions. In both, George Graham is foreseen as the successor.

First, Murray has a record of loyalty that borders on the fanatical - look how long he persevered with Walter Smith - and he has said that he has "never even spoken to George Graham" in his life. Second, Advocaat has a reputation for brusque competitiveness that makes it near implausible that he would depart any scene of battle early. When he ended yesterday's press conference at Ibrox abruptly and aggressively, no one thought it was because he was under any extra pressure. It's just Dick.

The brevity meant that there was no discourse on the season and where it all began to go wrong. Advocaat had become annoyed by the constant speculation about whom he will be signing for next season, itself a reference to the under-achievement this. "Don't expect too much," he said in a reasonable moment, "maybe one, two, three." Then suddenly the door was swinging and there was no sign of Dick.

But, at other times, as the blue season has faded, Advocaat has addressed where and when it began to unravel. He tends to employ the argument displayed in the October 25th edition of "Rangers News". "DICK SICK LIST HELL" screamed from the front page; "Whole team missing" was the sub-heading, as if an entire Rangers team had disappeared down the Clyde.

In a way they had, if only to the treatment room. But they were players of influence: Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Jorg Albertz and Claudio Reyna were three of them. Their absenteeism has been telling - only this month was Advocaat able to field the same line-up in consecutive games.

As he frequently pointed out to an increasingly doubting press, things were different last autumn. Of the 17 games played before October, Rangers won 13 and lost two. Two of their victories were against European opposition: 5-0 against Sturm Graz and then the away win in Monaco. Rangers were sitting on seven points at the top of Champions League group D.

But, by the end of October, Rangers had lost 3-2 to Galatasaray in Istanbul, lost in Austria to Graz and eventually exited the tournament at stage one because of a worse head-to-head with Galatasaray. That they had finished level on points with a side that would beat Real Madrid 3-2 in the quarter-final first leg was an indication of Rangers' capabilities, but it was not much of a consolation.

Domestically, Rangers were about to implode. In the space of three weeks they lost away at Hibernian, away at St Johnstone and then at home, 3-0, to Kilmarnock. Celtic, meanwhile, ploughed on. The gap created then proved insurmountable despite the 5-1 defeat of O'Neill's team in November at Ibrox.

If some fans started to blame Advocaat for this, Advocaat started to blame the injuries to seven key players. "No club in the world can cope with that," he said, "no manager in the world can cope with that. This is not an excuse."

Murray clearly believed his manager. "Dick is like me," said Murray, "he's very disappointed. But all the smart-arses come out at times like this and say: `Advocaat should go and so on.' If Dick had all his players available to him and we were still losing, then I would tend to agree. But that is not the case."

What the critics replied was that after spending £76 million sterling in less than three years - the equivalent of Bryan Robson's spending at Middlesbrough in seven years (and Robson has recouped £45 million compared to Advocaat's £11 million) - even seven injuries should be comfortably accommodated.

That that has not been so was demonstrated by the signings of first Ronald de Boer, then Kristiansen, then Tore Andre Flo - a Scottish record fee - and then Marcus Gayle as the season progressed. That is £19.5 million-worth merely to supplement the existing squad. It has smacked of panic, not something easily attributed to a man like Advocaat.

Flo, especially, has raised the issue of Advocaat's judgment. It is also difficult to find a player who would leave Ibrox tomorrow for more than he cost. Then there is the suitability of some for Scottish football. "That's our problem, sometimes we are too nice," Advocaat said last season, when his side was winning.

For all their wealth - Rangers had connections in the admittedly crass Sunday Times Rich List worth £3.3 billion - Advocaat's demeanour yesterday suggested that this season's repeated spending has significantly eroded next season's budget. Next season will be about Advocaat's ability to manage.

As he entered Ibrox yesterday Advocaat must have thought of Jim Baxter. The Rangers and Scotland great will be remembered in a minute's silence before kick-off tomorrow. Judging by the number of Celtic scarves and jerseys attached to the Ibrox gates, the silence will be observed. Then the fifth Old Firm game of the year will begin.

All know, though, that it is already about next season. Particularly those in blue.