Celtic's first ever match, in May 1888, was against Rangers. Celtic won 5-2. Both clubs have since done nine titles in a row, Celtic twice, and both have won in Europe, so this is a lot closer than most combined XIs.
I've only counted what a player did in a Celtic or Rangers shirt. Where I could, I've leant on what they did in the Old Firm game itself, though a few are in on general merit and I'll say which.
Old Firm combined XI, 4-4-2
Goram; McGrain, McNeill, Gough, Gemmell; Johnstone, Greig, Baxter, Laudrup; Larsson, McCoist.
Six from Rangers, five from Celtic. A straight 4-4-2, because that's how most of these men played. Greig does the running so Baxter doesn't have to, and Laudrup drifts in off the left whenever he feels like it.
Goalkeeper
Ronnie Simpson has a European Cup medal and Packie Bonner gave Celtic nearly 500 league games. I've still gone with Andy Goram (Rangers, 1991 to 1998). He was in goal for six of the nine titles, and in a 2001 poll Rangers fans voted him their best keeper ever. The Celtic side of the argument is best summed up by their own manager, Tommy Burns, who said in 1996 that his tombstone would read "Andy Goram broke my heart".
Defence
Danny McGrain (Celtic, 1970 to 1987) at right back. He fractured his skull in 1972 and was diagnosed with diabetes in 1974, and he was still one of the best full backs in Britain ten years later. Sandy Jardine was a great Rangers right back, and I'd understand anyone picking him.
Billy McNeill lifted the European Cup in Lisbon, but for a derby moment, try the 1969 Scottish Cup final. He headed Celtic in front early on and they beat Rangers 4-0. He was at Celtic from 1957 to 1975 and never played for anyone else.
Next to him, Richard Gough (Rangers, 1987 to 1998). Souness brought him up from Spurs in 1987 and he was there for every one of the nine, captain for most of them. Terry Butcher was probably the better player for a season or two. Gough lasted eleven.
Left back is Tommy Gemmell, who scored in two European Cup finals, against Inter in 1967 and Feyenoord in 1970.
Midfield
Celtic fans voted Jimmy Johnstone (Celtic, 1961 to 1975) their greatest ever player in 2002. He goes on the right and he can wander wherever he likes. Willie Henderson was a fine little winger for Rangers in the same years and spent most of them in Jinky's shadow.
John Greig played for Rangers from 1961 to 1978 and captained them in Barcelona in 1972, when they beat Dynamo Moscow to win the Cup Winners' Cup. The fans voted him the Greatest Ever Ranger in 1999. He also spent most of his prime watching Celtic win nine in a row, and he stayed. In this side he wins the ball and gives it to Baxter.
Because Jim Baxter (Rangers, 1960 to 1965, then 1969 to 1970) needs the ball. Left foot. No pace, and he didn't need any. The 1963 Scottish Cup final against Celtic finished 1-1, and in the replay at Hampden he ran the game while Rangers won 3-0. A year later he was the main man in the side that won the treble. Greig was in that team too, so the two of them in the same midfield isn't a stretch.
Tannadice, May 1997, a header from a Dane, and nine in a row is done. Brian Laudrup only had four seasons at Ibrox, and he was the football writers' player of the year in two of them.
Attack
Henrik Larsson (Celtic, 1997 to 2004) scored 242 goals in just over 300 games. In August 2000 he got two in a 6-2 win over Rangers at Celtic Park, and one of them was the chip over Stefan Klos that every Celtic fan can still describe. That season ended with a treble, 53 goals for Larsson and the European Golden Shoe.
Ally McCoist (Rangers, 1983 to 1998) is Rangers' record scorer with 355, and he won the Golden Shoe twice. His 27 goals against Celtic, in league and cup, are the most anyone has scored in the fixture.
If I could only have one, I'd take Larsson. His rate was better, about three goals in every four games against McCoist's three in five, and he kept it up in Europe. Rangers fans will point out that McCoist did it for fifteen years, not seven, and that in Old Firm games the two are almost dead level, Larsson 15 in 30 and McCoist 27 in 55.
Manager
Jock Stein. Walter Smith won seven of Rangers' nine in a row and took them to a UEFA Cup final, and Bill Struth won 18 league titles. Stein won nine in a row and the European Cup with players all born within about 30 miles of Celtic Park. Rangers fans will say Smith did his in a far richer league, with Europe getting harder every year, and they have a point. I'm still going Stein.
Left out: Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish (Celtic, 1969 to 1977). I wanted him in. In a 4-4-2 he's a striker, and I couldn't leave out either of the two men above. If you'd rather play 4-4-1-1 with Dalglish behind Larsson, McCoist is the one who drops. Good luck telling a Rangers fan that.
Close but not quite
- Bobby Murdoch (Celtic, 1959 to 1973). The Lions' right half and, for plenty who saw him, the best footballer in that team. Greig gets in ahead of him because I wanted a Ranger in the middle who stuck it out through all nine of Celtic's titles, and that's a slightly unfair reason.
- Paul McStay (Celtic, 1981 to 1997). Over 500 league games, all for Celtic, and captain of the side that won the Scottish Cup in 1995.
- Paul Gascoigne (Rangers, 1995 to 1998). The hat-trick against Aberdeen that won the eighth title. Three seasons. Laudrup was just a bit more reliable.
- Jimmy McGrory (Celtic, 1922 to 1937). Celtic's record scorer, with 22 goals against Rangers in only 35 games. If you rate goals from the 1920s the same as goals from the 1990s, he's in and someone else is out.
- Ľubomír Moravčík (Celtic, 1998 to 2002). Two goals in the 5-1 win over Rangers in November 1998.
- Scott Brown (Celtic, 2007 to 2021) and James Tavernier (Rangers, 2015 to 2026). Long-serving captains of the recent sides. Tavernier left this summer after eleven years, and both have honest cases.
Men who played for both
Mo Johnston is the one everyone remembers. He played for Celtic from 1984 to 1987, and in the summer of 1989 he looked set to go back there before signing for Rangers instead.
Alfie Conn Jr went the other way. He scored for Rangers in their 3-2 win over Celtic in the 1973 Scottish Cup final, then moved to Celtic in 1977 and won the cup with them that year, against Rangers.
A few more:
- Tully Craig, Celtic 1919 to 1922, Rangers 1923 to 1935
- Steven Pressley, Rangers 1990 to 1994, Celtic 2006 to 2008
- Kenny Miller, Rangers 2000 to 2001, Celtic 2006 to 2007, Rangers again 2008 to 2011 and 2014 to 2018. He's scored in the fixture for both sides.
- Mark Brown, Rangers 1999 to 2001, Celtic 2007 to 2010
Quick answers
Who has scored the most Old Firm goals? Ally McCoist, with 27 in league and cup.
What was the biggest Old Firm win? Celtic's 7-1 over Rangers in the 1957 League Cup final.
Build your own
You'll have your own version of this, and it probably looks nothing like mine. Make it in our team builder, or do the side from the first Old Firm game you went to, with the score as the title. We email a proof before anything is printed, and it comes framed in black or white for £99 or £149, with free UK delivery. If you'd rather have a famous team ready-made, there are our Celtic prints and Rangers prints.