Mark Guidi Reports in the Mail Sport Monthly 7th July 2001
Some blinkered Hibs and Hearts fans might argue with that but history tells us the last time the big two from Glasgow were split was six years ago at the end of the 1994-95 season when Rangers won the championship, Motherwell were second, Hibs third and Celtic fourth.
But the Parkhead club has got its act together and mounted some serious challenges to the Ibrox men, winning the league twice since then.
Hearts ran them close in '97-98 but couldn't keep it up in the run-in and Celts nicked it seven points ahead of them and two in front of Rangers.
That season apart, the challenge to the big two has been bitterly disappointing with the gap sometimes as much as 36 points. Fair enough they don't have the same transfer funds at their disposal and when the Old Firm spend three or four million quid without thinking, the rest are lucky to have one-tenth of that to splash out on a new player.
Hibs are the bookies' favourites to finish third spot but no team has managed to do that twice in a row in recent years. But Alex McLeish's troops were a revelation last term and many will feel they are the only serious bet to upset the title odds.
Their capital neighbours should be up there too. Craig Levein will demand that and look to his Hearts squad to improve on last season's disappointment at missing out on a European place on the final day.
Kilmarnock and Dundee United will be expected and Aberdeen will be expecting to hoist themselves up from seventh last time. But St. Johnstone, Motherwell, Dunfermline and Livingston will do well to stay clear of the bottom half.
That leaves Dundee. The club that introduced glamour to Tayside and has Broughty Ferry looking for cosmopolitan status.
Ivano Bonetti was ridiculed when he was appointed Jocky Scott's successor and his side were tipped for the drop. But he stamped his authority on Dens Park and the players, fans and critics quickly came around to his way of thinking.
He introduced flair to the side with the signings of talented foreigners Fabian Caballero, Georgi Nemsadze, Juan Sara and Beto Carranza. they mixed well with established Scots like Gavin Rae and Barry Smith as well as young Steven Milne who forced his way through the reserves to play up front with the first-team.
Then Bonetti sent one half of the city into overdrive in November when he pulled off an incredible signing coup with the capture of Argentina legend Claudio Caniggia.
The 33 year-old striker was a reformed character after being banned from football after testing positive for drugs during his spell in Italy's Serie A. Caniggia's skill was never in question and neither was his application as he quickly slotted in and produced some fantastic performances.
The Dundee fans loved him and wore long blond wigs to every game as a tribute. By all accounts some even donned them for the dancin' on Saturday night in the hope of fooling the young ladies of Tayside into thinking they were set for a bit of a fling with 'The Man'.
But I hear the guys couldn't perfect the broken 'Help ma Boab' accent or maybe it was just because fashion-conscience Claudio was never seen wearing Sta-press and white socks!
Still he's gone now after joining Rangers in an £800,000 transfer and the place is still in post-Caniggia depression.
However they can recover from that and go on to have a highly successful season by finishing in third place.
Sure some of Bonetti's day-to-day methods are unorthodox and he could look at changing a few of them to breed more harmony in the camp.
But he has instilled in his players a no-fear approach to the Old Firm-and that's something which is not easy to do. They won with a bit to spare at Ibrox and Parkhead last season which was great to see as plenty of other sides go there hoping to leave with a creditable 2-0 defeat.
They were also more or less a new side and a year on will know each other better and communication will have improved.
Caballero will be a huge player for them and even at 24 years old must be one of the most technically gifted players in the country.
The only worrying aspect of tipping Dundee for third place is, while their class is not in doubt from middle to front, Bonetti has still to find the right blend at the back and they were continually guilty of conceding silly goals which made for inconsistant results.
But if the manager can build on the strengths he already has in skipper Barry Smith and keeper Jamie Langfield, he might just crack it.
With tempting odds of 8-1 to clinch that third place, there will be more than a few quid laid on Tayside in the coming weeks.