What Ever Happened To Celtic's Stars?

This weekend saw the season's first installment of the Old Firm battle in Scotland; Celtic versus Rangers. Any follower of the sport knows it is one of the most keenly contested derbies in Europe, with more than just footballing pride at stake in this game. The latest tie saw Rangers runaway from Celtic Park with a three-one win, again showing that in the recent history of the Scottish Premier League, Rangers are on top. But whatever happened to the dominant Celtic side of the past decade or so?

I remember Celtic getting to the UEFA Cup final, and I remember the quality they had in their side that day. The likes of Bobo Balde, Didi Agathe, Neil Lennon, Alan Thompson, Stylian Petrov and Chris Sutton played in the three-two defeat to FC Porto in Seville. Of course, the talismanic Henrik Larsson also played that day, scoring twice and getting his 200th strike for Celtic in the process. In his time at Celtic Park, Larsson led the club to four league titles and five cups, with manager Martin O'Neill also a big hit above the border. But when Larsson left in 2004 and O'Neill departed in 2005, they simply haven't replaced the quality.

Gordon Strachan deserves credit for the job he did there because you look at the squad now and worry. Emilio Izaguirre, Daniel Majstorovic and Ki Sung-Yueng all started in the Rangers defeat, and you get serious brownie points if you know where they came from. Players like Glenn Loovens, Shaun Maloney and the dire Georgios Samaras have all failed to impress on the big stages, meaning that the promising but hardly world-class Joe Ledley looks like their best player. He would have got nowhere near the 2003 Celtic team. Neil Lennon also looks like a decent manager, with a 100% league record up until Sunday, but is Celtic Park the place for him to cut his teeth?

But as their near neighbours have been floundering, Walter Smith's Rangers have been settled and consolidated their place at the peak of Scottish football. Lads such as Lee McCulloch, Madjid Bougherra and Kenny Miller are good players, while recent acquisitions Vladimir Weiss (on loan) and James Beattie are good additions to a solid squad that has dealt well with the loss of top scorer Kris Boyd. The strong Scottish spine of Allan McGregor, David Weir, McCulloch and Steven Whittaker is aided by Maurice Edu and the bright Steven Davis to make what would be a decent side in any European league. The recent Champions League draw with Valencia shows their quality. Their recent league success looks to be secure for a couple of seasons, even considering the brilliant Walter Smith will be leaving to be replaced by protegee Ally McCoist in the hot seat.

The balance has well and truly shifted in the Old Firm. Celtic looked the more powerful and more dominant at the turn of the century, but Rangers have put aside financial worries to form a strong Scottish team that looks to have the bragging rights in Glasgow for the moment. As for Celtic, club legend Larsson is currently learning the management trade in his native Sweden at second division side Landskrona BoIS. And if Sunday's performance is anything to go by, they will need their former saviour or something of that magnitude to turn things around in the Old Firm power struggle.