GLASGOW GIANTS ... EURO PYGMIES They still see themselves as big players in the grand scheme of things, but Old Firm are becoming increasingly irrelevant on the Continental stage

Flicking through the annals of Scottish football can be a disconcerting task. 

Nostalgia may not be what is used to be but, for supporters of Celtic and Rangers, it sure beats the grim reality of the present day.

Eighteen years ago this week, both halves of the Old Firm were in the thick of the action in the Champions League.

Gordon Strachan’s Celtic beat Benfica at Parkhead thanks to Aiden McGeady’s goal. Having also defeated reigning European champions AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, they would go on to qualify for the last 16 for a second successive year.

Rangers were going down by two goals in the Nou Camp but, having already beaten Lyon, Stuttgart and drawn at home with Barcelona, Walter Smith’s team parachuted into the UEFA Cup. Only Zenit St Petersburg got the better of them in the final in Manchester.

All of this clearly did not happen yesterday, yet it’s starting to feel like ancient history.

After sporadic seasons of promise on both sides of the city, the decline of both clubs on the continental stage in this calendar year has been jaw-dropping.

Both were once eminently capable of bloodying the nose of the biggest and best clubs around. Defeats to sides with a fraction of their resources are now so common that it’s starting to wash over the rank and file.

Celtic and Rangers remain big names in Europe, but that’s all to do with past glories. In the here and now, they’re increasingly irrelevant.

If the custodians of both clubs aren’t ashamed when they eye the current Europa League table, they certainly should be.

This time last year, Celtic were making a real go of it in the Champions League under Brendan Rodgers, gathering a dozen points and coming within a hair’s breadth of eliminating Bayern Munich in the play-off round.

Nine months on, they’ve been knocked out of the main competition by Kairat Almaty, been beaten at home by Braga in the secondary competition and were torn asunder by Midtjylland in Denmark on Thursday.

They have four points from four matches and sit 27th in a 36-team group. Ahead of a trip to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord at the end of the month, it may be best to adopt the brace position.

Rangers’ decline in the same timeframe is even more staggering. For all his faults, Philippe Clement took the team to eighth in last season’s Europa League. Under Barry Ferguson, they beat Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, only to be outclassed in the last eight by Athletic Bilbao.

Since losing the second leg of their Champions League qualifier away to Viktoria Plzen on August 12, the team have played seven European matches. For the first time since Rangers entered that arena, they’ve lost them all.

Those who believed that a 9-1 aggregate drubbing at the hands of Club Brugge was as bad as it gets have now been forced into a rethink.

After four Europa League games which have been split between Russell Martin and Danny Rohl, Rangers have yet to pick up a single point and have scored just one goal. Rock bottom of the group with zero points, the campaign to date has been nothing short of mortifying.

While there are obvious parallels to be drawn between their respective situations - primarily mismanagement from on high - there are distinctions to be made.

Celtic’s under-performance in Europe is now a long-standing matter. While there have been some notable highs under a succession of managers, it says much that the last time the team recorded a knock-out win after Christmas was against Barcelona in 2004 during Martin O’Neill’s first spell in charge.

Domestic domination is all very well. But five successive defeats in Champions League qualifiers - to AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros, Midtjylland and Kairat - makes for a proper bellwether.

Last season’s commendable display under Rodgers was an outlier. Never mind Milan and Benfica. Frequently in recent times, Celtic have lost to sides with a sliver of their budget.

Remember Malmo, FC Copenhagen and Bodo/Glimt? Different Celtic managers, but the same outcome.

How often in recent times have Celtic been outmanoeuvred by clubs who, despite financial obstacles, have ensured that they present the best possible version of themselves on the field of play?

The Parkhead men have a storied European history and a vast support throughout the world, but they increasingly feel like an analogue club operating in a digital age.

With Hearts threatening to break their stranglehold on the title, the Celtic board now look exposed, antiquated and devoid of ideas.

While Brendan Rodgers unquestionably didn’t make the most of what he had at his disposal at the outset of this season, the hierarchy’s failure to support the football department across two transfer windows was the root of the problem.

Munich was a taste of where Celtic could be if the club functioned properly. The Midtjylland debacle was what they currently deserve.

You’d have to go some way to top such a rapid descent. Yet Rangers have somehow pulled it off.

Last season’s run to the quarter-finals was actually typical of the Ibrox club’s efforts in Europe across the past seven years.

While the fan base have been starved of the domestic success they crave, there has been significant consolation in seeing their side punch above their weight in the Europa League.

Steven Gerrard twice navigated four qualifying rounds to make the group stages. Giovanni van Bronckhorst came within a penalty kick of winning the tournament in 2022.

Not only have Rangers taken care of numerous sides with similar ability, they’ve taken down plenty of outfits when the odds were stacked against them. Thursdays, we were told, were becoming their favourite nights.

Not any more, as Roma finished their 90-minute game of keep ball on Glasgow’s south side. Rangers didn’t lay a glove on them.

They offered only marginally more threat against Club Brugge, Genk, Sturm Graz and Brann.

With Russell Martin no longer on the premises, all the anger in the stadium was directed towards the individuals deemed responsible for the current state of affairs - sporting director Kevin Thelwell and chief executive Patrick Stewart.

The defeat rounded off a thoroughly miserable trip for the current chairman, Andrew Cavenagh.

In May, the fanbase believed his incoming consortium would ‘Make Rangers Great Again’.

It seemed a given that the team would continue to overachieve in Europe. The bigger issue was winning the title - not if, but when.

Six months on, it’s been the stuff of nightmares. The team are 14 points behind Hearts and out of the League Cup.

Previously a welcome escape from domestic woes, Europe has been an extension of the misery.

Rohl has arrived on the scene with fresh ideas and enthusiasm, but not a magic wand. The rancour which briefly lifted when the side finally won successive league matches is back and it’s not going away.

With the storm clouds still hovering over Parkhead, Chris Sutton believes O’Neill should get out soon in case his legacy is scuffed. He’s probably preaching to the converted on that one.

A man at the opposite end of his managerial career, Rohl simply must grit his teeth, back himself and hope for better days. On both sides of the great divide, they could be a long time coming.