Rangers v Celtic: who was the last non Old Firm team to win Scottish title? How many titles have they won?

The first Old Firm derby of the season will enthral the Ibrox this weekend as Rangers and Celtic lock horns in the infamous rivalry once again.

There are few clashes more famous in world football when it comes to feisty games and historic grudges with the two Glaswegian clubs dominating league football in the country for decades.

Over the history of Scottish league football, Celtic have won 53 titles and dominated Rangers in recent history. It's now been more than a decade since the Gers managed to win consecutive titles.

However, through the course of the country's league history, it is Rangers with more league titles than Celtic. The club has won 55 in total, two more than their rivals.

Celtic dominate Scottish Premiership era

Ever since the Scottish Premiership was formed in 2013, Celtic have dominated the country's top division, winning the league nine out of ten times. The only season the Bhoys didn't lift the trophy was in 2020/21 when Steven Gerrard led Rangers to romp to victory a huge 25 points ahead of their Glasgow rivals.

Before the Premiership was formed, the Scottish top flight was of course known as the Scottish Premier League. Neither of the Old Firm teams dominated this era the way that Celtic have over the past decade, but titles were still only shared between the two clubs and no others in the country.

Celtic won the Scottish Premier League eight times between 1998 and 2013 with Rangers lifting the trophy seven times. It was a hugely competitive era for the Glaswegian sides with neither club winning the league more than three years on the bounce.

Scottish Football League Premier Division competition for Old Firm

Before the Scottish Premier League was the Scottish Football League Premier Division, which was in place from 1975 to 1998. Although the Old Firm clubs still dominated in this time, four different sides did win the trophy over the Premier Division period.

The last team that was not Celtic or Rangers to lift a Scottish league trophy was Aberdeen in 1985 when they retained the title from the previous season. The club managed to do that under the stewardship of none other than Sir Alex Ferguson.

Aberdeen were a side to be feared at this time with impressive scalps on the European stage and Sir Alex was poached by Rangers and Arsenal, but elected to stay at Pittodrie. The manager also received an OBE for his services to football at this time.

Aberdeen also lifted the title under the legendary Scotsman's management in 1980 and Dundee United also claimed a Premier Division title in between that time, in 1983.

How Sir Alex ‘dismantled’ the Old Firm domination

Sir Alex Ferguson recently reflected on that period of his career when speaking to RedTV. He said: “People talk about what I did at Manchester United, but a lot of people, who dig a bit deeper than that, will recognise what I did here was beyond that.

"Because, to overthrow the power that Rangers and Celtic had for years - we dismantled that. That was down to the ability, determination, ambition of myself and my staff, and the players."