David Tanner: Scott Allan saga adds edge to Sky Live Ibrox showdown

David Tanner looks ahead to this week’s live SPFL Championship game between Rangers and Hibs, a vital clash given an extra edge by a player who won’t even be playing!

By complete coincidence, I spoke to Maurice Johnston on the day Celtic signed Scott Allan. "Aye, I heard about that", he said with a giggle before adding: "Good luck!"

I reserve a special admiration for the Rangers supporters who sign for Celtic and for the Celtic fans who play for Rangers. I salute them all for placing professionalism above tribalism. They get to make new friends and if they lose any old ones in the process, they must have been well worth shedding.

Is Scott Allan's transfer really as big deal as many in Glasgow have claimed it to be in recent days? OK, at first glance, it is reminiscent of Mo's move to Rangers 26 years ago but only for the simple fact that his boyhood team failed in a bid to sign him allowing another local club to move in.

The reaction sparked on both sides of the Glasgow divide when Johnston was led into the Blue Room by Graeme Souness is unique to that transfer. It is also in the past – and that's where it should stay. No other transfer in Glasgow will ever come close for drama and controversy. Allan can be sure of that as he gets on with his career. 

Celtic's newest midfielder wasn't even born when, on the morning of wee Mo's first appearance in an Old Firm game (wearing a blue jersey), I witnessed an extraordinary scene while on my commute at Glasgow's Central Station. Two kids – one in a Celtic top, the other in Rangers colours – had stopped at an evening newspaper billboard which said: "Mo – Old Firm Debut Day".

"He's mad," said one, "I'll never forgive him," said the other. At that precise moment, who should walk past but Alfie Conn, until Mo, the only other player to be brave enough to have played for both of Glasgow's big two since World War II. You couldn't have scripted it. And guess what? Neither of those youngsters back in 1989 knew who he was. Time really is a great healer. These days Alfie is respected on both sides of the Old Firm, maybe, Johnston will be, too, one day.

Dylan McGeouch, who headed in the opposite direction as part of the Allan deal, must have had a laugh at the furore. The midfielder quit the Rangers youth set-up for Celtic as recently as 2011, he was given his first team debut by Neil Lennon the same year and all done without anything like the level of drama as I've seen in the past week. It's worth pointing out that Scott Allan has never actually been on the books at Rangers. Move on!

The Old Firm rivalry is still box office, even with the two clubs playing their football in different leagues.

The last high-profile player to miss out on a move to Ibrox only to move to Parkhead had a habit of saving his best performances for Old Firm games. (Less of a consideration these days, I know…) In the summer of 2000, when high-spending was at its peak in the then SPL, I received a tip-off promising me that John Hartson would be leaving the Wales team hotel and flying to Glasgow in a private jet.

I couldn't get to the airport because I was already at Ibrox covering the signing of Barcelona's Ronald de Boer. As the Dutch international played keepy-uppy for the cameras on the centre spot, the Sky Sports crew sneaked off to catch big John trying to tip-toe in a side door. Incredibly, the striker was back on the plane within hours.

The medics were concerned about what they saw when they examined his knees. And didn't the Welshman make Rangers pay for that once Martin O'Neill had lured him back north a year later. Incidentally, de Boer's Ibrox teammates told me that his historic problems meant he couldn't fully bend his knee!

The tale of two superstar medicals perhaps confirms the theory that when Dick Advocaat was boss in Govan, there was one rule for the Dutch and another for the rest. Whatever state their knees were in, Johnny and Ronnie were both something special during their days in Scotland.

I'm not involved in that process. For me, you face the best teams in Scotland, that's what you want. Right now Rangers are not among those teams.

With on outlay of around £275,000 plus McGeouch, Scott Allan is surely a great bit of business by the champions. I also reckon that Ronny Deila has given Rangers' chances of automatic promotion a massive boost because he's signed Hibernian's best player. Not that the Celtic manager should care about that. I asked him recently if Rangers failure to navigate the play-offs was, for him, an opportunity or a disappointment; Ronny's answer was delivered with admirable bluntness:

"I'm not involved in that process. For me, you face the best teams in Scotland, that's what you want. Right now Rangers are not among those teams". Ouch!

Scotland's transfer of the season serves to crank up the heat ahead of the clash of the two heavyweights in the Ladbrokes Championship this Sunday. And the player at the centre of it all isn't even playing. Rangers v Hibernian is a fantastic game for us to showcase live on Sky Sports.

The public rowing between the two managers - which continues to develop on a daily basis - adds an extra edge to the big game, not that it was required. Alan Stubbs and Mark Warburton are amiable, mild-mannered guys – but have certainly ditched the normal pre-match niceties. At least, they are being honest and sincere. Perhaps, the traditional pre-match handshake will take the heat out of things - it'll certainly be watched closely by our cameras…

If Stubbsy and Warbs need any advice on dugout etiquette in this fixture, they won't get any from our studio guest for Sunday! Joining Neil McCann and me will be former Hibernian striker and manager, Mixu Paatelainen, who once had a heated head-to-head with Walter Smith in the technical area at Ibrox during a cup tie with Hibs in 2008. Even the cops on duty in the tunnel that day appeared to retreat to a safe distance as Walter and big Mixu squared up.

Rangers go into the game on form with five wins out of five under their new manager, including a 6-2 Petrofac Cup win at Easter Road on July 25. Last season, Hibs finished three points above the Ibrox men in the Championship and then Rangers came out on top in the two-legged play-off semi-final, when in the caretaker charge of Stuart McCall.

The four league meetings between the sides last season were all epic encounters, Hibs winning three of them. Firstly, Ally McCoist's Rangers were beaten 3-1 at Ibrox last September (it was 3-0 by half time) and in December, on Kenny McDowall's first game in charge of Rangers, Hibs dished-out a 4-0 thumping in Leith – their biggest win against the Govan side in over a century. Alan Stubbs' win at Ibrox in February was followed by a defeat to McCall's Rangers at Easter Road.

Rangers have not lost a Championship game at Ibrox since that last visit by Hibs six months ago, and the side has clearly benefitted from a major overhaul by the new management team of Warburton and David Weir. Confidence is high. The players look much fitter.

For Hibs, the Scott Allan distraction is finally over and they have McGeouch signed on permanent deal after impressing on-loan last season. Liam Henderson has joined on loan from Celtic; he could start for the first time at Ibrox, having come off the bench in last Saturday's win against Morton. I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops at Hibs; many feel the teenager should have been given more game time by both Neil Lennon and Ronny Deila; he should get it at under Stubbs.

Rangers revealed this week that they have sold over 33,000 season tickets and Ibrox is going to be sold out for Sunday. The fans of both teams are doing their bit then, now it's over to the players - and those feuding managers! If you missed out on a ticket, then Sky Sports 5 is the place to enjoy the game.

Tune in from noon to learn more about the new Rangers boss when we'll hear from former colleagues of Mark Warburton including: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, Burnley's Sean Dyche as well as current Ibrox No 2 Davie Weir.

With Ronny Deila admirably stating his desire for the treble, should Rangers with all their resources be targeting the Scottish Cup and/or League Cup this season? A Championship treble? Find out what Mark Warburton said when I asked him that question in an exclusive interview shot in his office at Murray Park. The extended interview is available to access now by calling up the On Demand section of your Sky+ box.

If the big one in the Championship can match our last live game from the Ladbrokes Premiership for spectacle, we are in for a cracker. The Dundee derby had the lot, including a late comeback with Dundee forcing a 95th-minute equaliser through centre half James McPake, who was thrown up front for the closing stages.

It was a fantastic spectacle to experience and when analysing why it was so, I'd break it down into two parts: the part played by the football people and, secondly, the contribution made by the people who watched it from the stands.

We have two young coaches who play an attacking style of football and are brave enough to go for it. We all, as supporters, want to watch that brand of football. Too many managers have got away with setting up their sides to sit in and attempt to bore their opponents into submission. If you set out to play negative football and you still end up losing the game, there are no positives for anybody, least of all the fans, and why should they pay for that?

Jackie McNamara's credentials as a progressive coach need no explanation after his work over the last two-and-a-half years at Dundee United; Dundee's Paul Hartley is building his reputation in his second year as a Premiership manager.

Can anyone tell me why on earth Dundee forward Greg Stewart was playing part-time football until he was 24? Neil McCann described his left foot as "a wand" on our programme and certainly there was magic in his goal at Tannadice... and in the three city derbies he scored in last season. He's proof that Hartley has an eye for a player which is a valuable talent for a manager, as Jackie McNamara has already shown; a glance at the Dundee United balance sheet confirms that.

The Tayside crowd were so passionate – roaring their teams on until the ref blew for time, a whistle that could not be heard above the din created by James McPake's late goal. There is no substitute for local rivalry, when results really matter to people. It's what the game was built on in the 19th Century in Scotland and it is still a massive selling point today. The Premiership is almost unrecognisable without its two biggest city derbies: the sooner the Old Firm game and the Edinburgh derbies return, the better.

I personally am all for the authorities investigating the feasibility of the regionalisation of the SPFL at lower levels to give us more games involving teams in the same part of the country. Why not start when the revamped League Cup is launched?

This week in the Petrofac Cup, Peterhead had a seven-hour round trip to Falkirk. How are fans supposed to make that journey during the week? It didn't stop the League One side winning 5-3 with Rory McAllister scoring all five of their goals! The big striker was back at work on a building site in Aberdeen at 7am the next morning. I suspect the long journey will have caught up with him long before the first tea break of the day.

Live SPFL Football

The games take place with little hope of attracting the support from the away team. What's the point if the fans can't be there? St Mirren trekked to the Borders to play Annan the same night for a fixture that represents a major undertaking for fans on a work night. You can bet there will be a much bigger crowd when Saints make the short trip down the Clyde to face Morton on Friday evening. Having spent my childhood in Gourock I know how much that derby means to fans and the wider public in Inverclyde and Renfrewshire. If you are going to along Cappielow, enjoy it!

Enjoy your football! See you on Sky Sports 5 this Sunday at noon!!

For first news about the SPFL and Sky Sports Scottish coverage follow @ScotlandSky on Twitter.