Chris McLaughlin's words of the weekend: Is it time for an Old Firm title decider?

Old Firm managers Graeme Murty and Brendan Rodgers will meet again twice this season, but it's unlikely one of those matches will decide the title

BBC Scotland's senior football reporter, Chris McLaughlin, analyses a talking point from the weekend's action, asking what's behind the words.

Scottish football is often referred to as a 'goldfish bowl' and it's long been assumed that this is due to the fact there's no escaping the attention that comes with the circus.

But as one big fish has his say on what may or may not be on the Premiership post-split fixture list, could the phrase actually be more of a memory gag?

Brendan Rodgers wants fixture crunchers to allow his players the chance to wrap up their seventh consecutive title against their biggest rivals - few would argue against the sentiment in an ideal world, but it's not, and we have been here before. The question has been asked plenty of times, but people seem to forget the answer.

Arguably, Scottish football's biggest selling point and biggest embarrassment is the Old Firm fixture. The people tasked with marketing our game want those outside Scotland to look just long enough to see the colour and hear the noise of the derby, but hope attention is elsewhere for the aftermath.

The Celtic manager pointed towards the recent Manchester derby as an example of a title deciding match where all passed off peacefully inside the stadium. He is right, and if league bosses in Scotland were confident of a similar spectacle in Glasgow, it would be the first fixture on the post-split list.

Police Scotland's preference is that Celtic and Rangers do not meet in a match that can decide the title

Remember that broadcasters are involved in deciding such matters and they want as much Old Firm drama as possible.

It's an uncomfortable truth for other clubs, but Celtic and Rangers drive the deals when it comes to TV and those broadcasters know the only ounce of jeopardy left to squeeze out of the league season would be from just such a fixture.

Four digits will almost certainly guarantee the TV people won't get what they want: 1999. Anyone who was inside Celtic Park on the day Rangers clinched the title, or anyone who watched the mayhem unfold on TV, will never forget those scenes. Pitch invasions, a referee slumped to his knees with blood pouring down his face, someone falling from a stand and over 130 arrests inside the stadium. More than 300 fans clashed in surrounding streets after the match as police struggled to prevent full scale riots.

Many matches before and since have been given the tag 'shame game', but this one was truly deserving of the name. A police force, who were already of the belief that they were picking up more than their fair share of the bill for keeping order inside Scottish stadia, vowed never again.

For the past few weeks, Scottish Professional Football League officials have been in negotiations with Police Scotland about what the post-split fixtures will look like. Each year the same response is given: Police Scotland's preference is for no title deciding Old Firm fixture. They do not make the final call, but they do have a huge influence.

One SPFL source told me that it would be madness to go against the advice of the police in such a matter. If there is an appetite within the league to push the spectacle over police advice, it's being well hidden.

The very nature of the split also affords administrators the chance to manage fixtures in such a way that is not available across the border, for example. That doesn't necessarily mean England's Premier League would have shied away from a title deciding Manchester derby, but that particular fixture was in the calendar months before its significance became apparent.

In that context, Scottish football has an advantage or disadvantage, depending on how you gauge the amount of liquid in your glass.

Referee Hugh Dallas was left bloodied after a missile hit him during the Old Firm match in 1999

The 2018 argument, for obvious reasons, is being put forward by Celtic fans. Rangers supporters will quite happily avoid the potential title party, thank you very much.

So, two decades on from a game that's continuing to shape the Scottish football landscape, is it time to trust? Old Firm fans have been on the naughty step long enough to know it will take more than protestations from one manager to change things, but if we are looking to showcase our game, maybe chances have to be taken.

In terms of this season, it's too soon. The police have had their say and Brendan Rodgers won't get what he is looking for this time. Derby day title deciders, for now, are for other countries.