What were they thinking? Exhibit A: Walter Smith. Kris Boyd, Andrius Velicka and Jean-Claude Darcheville jettisoned, Daniel Cousin summoned from a Murray Park broom cupboard along with Charlie Adam and pragmatism purged. Outcome: Unimaginable rout against long-standing superiors.

Exhibit B: Cousin. Damaged goods, renowned malcontent parachuted straight into the starting line-up for the first - and possibly last, offers permitting - time this season. Outcome: Opening goal and sending-off for persistent use of his decisive might.

Exhibit C: Kenny Miller. Had barely recorded a shot at goal since taking a circuitous route back to Rangers via Celtic Park. Outcome: Astrological collision decreed a relative deluge from Scotland's occasional goalscorer.

Exhibit D: Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. Summoned to rescue Celtic's crumbling challenge. Outcome: Dutchman lasted four minutes as a sub before being sent off for a naive kick at Kirk Broadfoot.

Exhibit E: Artur Boruc. Awoke to prying eyes poring over details of an apparently fractured private life. Outcome: Caught at his near post for Cousin's opener and, with his mind elsewhere, effectively palmed the ball to Miller for Rangers' fourth goal.

Exhibit F: Dougie McDonald.

Unenviable arbiter amid refereeing crisis. Outcome: Two red cards epitomised a balanced performance.

Miller's bounty, it transpired, was the only predictable occurrence from a thrillingly unconventional Glasgow derby. It is stretching it to consider the opening Old Firm game of the season a watershed but at Celtic Park, in a refreshing break from tradition, brain proved a more destructive tool than brawn.

Pedro Mendes, with his slick-back hair, Alice band and stylish swagger, is precisely the kind of character who has historically come a cropper in the pent-up madness of this often primitive rivalry. He was simply scintillating to watch and elevated Rangers to the kind of nostalgic heights of enterprise and entertainment that seemed impossible so soon after the smouldering debris of FBK Kaunas.

Mendes's instinctive, swooshing diagonal pass sent Cousin clomping his way back into Rangers' good books. The midfielder made a forceful away performance an emphatic one with an unerring drive from a pre-planned corner kick routine. It completed a memorable week for the one-time show pony of agricultural Portsmouth, after earning an unexpected recall to Carlos Queiroz's Portugal squad.

If Mendes provided the finesse, Miller indulged in inevitable, but fundamentally uncharacteristic, larceny. If nothing else, he has developed a keen sense of occasion. Miller scored his first goal in Celtic's colours, after one of his now-familiar barren spells, against Rangers. It was almost serendipitous that his fallow return to Rangers would end in clover at his former workplace.

He slipped, drunk with delirium, after executing a difficult downward volley and completed the rout in a state of disbelieving shock after being presented a tap-in by Boruc. The Pole is undeniably in a bad place. Banished from the international squad for an unsanctioned night on the lash, his personal life has been the subject of frenzied speculation in his homeland. Whatever the reasons behind his performance yesterday, Boruc was a pale imitation of his normally heroic self.

His kicking was suspect throughout, he lost a goal at his near post (albeit an admittedly adept finish from Cousin) and shovelled a tame cross from Broadfoot straight to Miller to round off a gruesome day. He epitomised an unusually subdued Celtic performance.

Defensively, they were unable to curtail Cousin's bull-in-a-China-shop style until the wreckage - including a cut and bruise to Gary Caldwell's face - became too much for the referee to tolerate.

In midfield, the champions were uniformally second best. Scott Brown kept his place ahead of Barry Robson, an inspirational figure in last season's derbies at Celtic Park, but again wilted on the big occasion. Worryingly for Gordon Strachan, Brown's most enduring performances since his £4.5m transfer from Hibernian have been in the dark blue of Scotland.

He claimed an assist for Celtic's equalising goal but became inhibited rather than inspired as Rangers not only overpowered Celtic but outmanoeuvred them. Steven Davis's forcefulness rendered Aiden McGeady an agitated bystander encamped in his own half. Even more unusually, Broadfoot - a popular figure of ridicule among rival supporters - performed as an auxiliary winger by the end. He even managed an ironic smile during a ridiculous episode of role reversal, in which he danced past McGeady and was contemptuously chopped down.

Shunsuke Nakamura was consigned to a special-teams cameo but his trademark free-kick conversion applied only consolation to the scoreline. He was the victim of an early Kevin Thomson challenge, more suited to the uncultured junior ranks, but was prohibited more by Andreas Hinkel's flimsy support.

With a dearth of creativity, Celtic's secondary striking partnership of Shaun Maloney and Georgios Samaras were hardly overburdened with opportunity. By comparison, Cousin and Miller were in their element. Rangers upholstered their territorial supremacy, not to mention new ethos, with a slick passage that epitomised Mendes's influence.

He switched the ball out to Cousin, who swatted Mark Wilson out the way, shaped to cut back for Miller and squeezed the ball inside Boruc's near post.

Revelry was quickly interrupted. Brown capitalised on a second's hesitancy from Mendes and Davis and stabbed the ball forward to McGeady. Sasa Papac failed to deal with the delivery, prodding straight off David Weir with his left boot when a right hoof was required. It enabled Samaras to bundle home gratefully before the break.

Rangers were undeterred and persisted with their patient and productive game plan. Adam's deep cross was volleyed emphatically by Miller and Mendes put the result beyond question by drilling Davis's corner past Boruc. Then, the idiotic intermission. Cousin was sent off for his umpteenth aerial collision in a fascinating duel with Caldwell, a decision that brought out Walter Smith's alter ego. The away dug-out were soothed seconds later, when Vennegoor of Hesselink was dismissed for a petulant swipe at Broadfoot.

Miller feasted on Boruc's wandering mind, and slippery hands, while Nakamura salvaged a semblance of respectability.