Jermaine Jenas has experienced the North London derby, the East Midlands derby and the Tyne-Wear derby during his playing career.
But nothing will ever top the Glasgow derby between Celtic and Rangers, because nobody on British soil can match it, and there are a rare few across the world who can top it.
On Sunday, Celtic recorded a 1-1 draw at Rangers, in what was the final derby game of the season, with those in green and white colours coming out as champions again.
In the build-up to the match, there was a lot of talk around whether Rangers would provide Celtic with a ‘guard of honour’, after they had confirmed their 55th Premiership title the week before at Dundee United.
Chelsea provided Liverpool with a guard of honour, as one former Bhoys hero, Virgil van Dijk, was respected after he helped the Reds clinch English title number 20.
But the same never happened in the football hotbed of Glasgow.
Jermaine Jenas on what he hears about the Celtic-Rangers rivalry
Even though Celtic and Rangers have been the main headline in Scotland for decades and decades, that passion and drive to win the title never eases.
Amid this talk of a guard of honour, Jenas told talkSPORT that he has heard about the ‘atmosphere’ Celtic and Rangers games can conjure up.
As well as that, the former midfielder has been told about the ‘hatred’ inside the stadium, and that’s something he would like to experience.
“100%, I do think there is,” said Jenas about there being a place for a guard of honour in football.
“When you look at that Rangers-Celtic game. Part of the lure to that game as a whole, people want to go there to experience the atmosphere, but also the hatred that is in the stadium.
“It’s part of the reason, non-footballing fans, or even somebody like myself, who has no connection to each football club, have always gone, ‘oh, I want to go and experience and see what it’s like’, because you hear about it.”
Celtic and Rangers ‘guard of honour’ shut down
The guard of honour thing is the norm in England and is seen as a sign of respect, after it was started by Manchester United in the 1950s.
It was also suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson used to make his Manchester United players provide the guard of honour to the champions, so it could fuel up his players for the following campaign.
But Jenas made it clear that it’s something that he can never see being introduced or happening in the bubble of Glasgow.
“With regards to the guard of honour,” added Jenas. “I think there is a specific situation. But it’s also an opportunity to shift the dial.
“We are talking about this tifo situation going ‘that is a step too far’, so what would Celtic’s response be to the next time they play? And how far down the road do we go until something terrible happens, where we have to have some really serious conversations?
“There we go (going back to having no fans). Fans coming back into the stadium is a huge positive. It’s an opportunity, I think, for the players to start setting the tone of, ‘we don’t like you and we hate you. But we understand what respect is about’.
“I think it’s something down the line they may have. But I personally don’t see it happening between Celtic and Rangers. Definitely not.”
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