The prospect of winning brings thoughts of joy and celebration, but in contemplative darker moments, there`s a reluctant admission that a loss will open up an old and painful wound.
Healing is a long drawn-out process if the devastation of defeat has to faced, but time eases the pain until hope and optimism surface in time for the next tribal gathering in Scotland`s greatest sporting city.
Four meetings occur between the famous pair each season, but with a possibility of even more depending on fortunes in cup competitions, and although some believe there has been a dimming of the spirit in contemporary Old Firm battles, for the committed supporter, they hold all the peace and tranquility of Armageddon, to be revisited periodically thanks to a lifetime commitment and allegiance.
As the countdown to this fixture reduces, the tension grows until passions are finally unleashed at the first toot of the whistle from the unenvied man in the middle, the referee.
At the last toot, fate will have decreed who won the war.
If it`s Celtic, the Rangers support will cast a critical eye every which way to single out players and management for performances thought to be less than total.
If Rangers win the day, controversy will abound as accusations of officiating incompetence and cheating dwarf any critical gaze on imperfection too close to home.
It was ever thus.