Clyde will begin their new season with a Ramsdens Cup tie against Partick Thistle in what used to be a 'Glasgow Derby' when the clubs were situated in the south and west of the city and indeed, when they shared Firhill.
The Bully Wee's move to Cumbernauld 18 years ago resulted in the description of a local clash being stretched a bit further however, with Saturday's meeting taking place at Alloa's Recreation Park, it could well now be described as the 'Glasgow Derby in Clackmannanshire.'
The game has been moved to allow the work in installing an artificial surface at Broadwood to continue and whilst the location may be different, one man who is sure that there will be plenty of local pride at stake is Clyde boss Jim Duffy.
In fact, the 53-year-old has been involved in so many local clashes in his home city of Glasgow as well as Greenock, Paisley, Dundee, Falkirk, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Southampton, Norwich, Ipswich, Brechin, Forfar, Montrose and Arbroath that he may well be better known as 'Jim Derby'.
Duffy said: "I have been involved in a lot of derby games and they usually take place in the same city or very close to each other so this is a bit of a novelty but it is not unique in my career. When I was a player at Dundee, we met Dundee United in a Scottish Cup Semi-Final at Tynecastle and it was decided to take both teams out of the city and to a neutral venue."
Before that 1987 meeting, Duffy's first taste of a local clash came as a reserve player with his first senior club Celtic against Rangers in what were Saturday afternoon encounters when the defender started out.
"These games were the reverse fixture of what was happening in the Premier Division of The Scottish Football League so they would draw big crowds," said Duffy before adding, "One time there was a crowd of over 15,000 at a game at Ibrox. I also played in Glasgow Cup ties which at that time were played between sides that had a mixture of first team players and reserves.
"These games gave you a taste of the atmosphere but not quite the full rivalry of a Celtic and Rangers game."
Duffy never played in an 'Old Firm' first team game although he was within touching distance of a whirlwind entrance into one when Billy McNeill was due to play the defender in the 1980 Scottish Cup Final when Jim Casey was injured only to change his mind on the day of the game and opt for Mike Conroy.
"It is disappointing never to have played in one," says Duffy before adding, "I suppose you could say it is a frustration I have from my career but I don't lie awake at night thinking about it!"
Morton's Cappielow Park became Duffy's new home in 1982 and he was to play in derby encounters against the Greenock side's Paisley neighbours St. Mirren and he remembers being taken aback by the passion involved.
He explained: "There was an intense rivalry there that I had not expected, a real determination to get one over each other. They were really competitive games with a real edge to them and they would attract decent attendances at Cappielow and Love Street.
"They were fixtures you would look forward to as much as Rangers or Celtic but in a different way. Playing Rangers and Celtic meant playing in front of a big crowd which was great but playing against St. Mirren meant playing in a game with real intensity, more intensity than a trip to Ibrox or Parkhead."
After three years at the Tail o' the Bank, Duffy moved to Dundee where he was to become familiar with the 'Dundee Derby' with United as both a player and later on as a Manager of the Dark Blues.
Duffy said: "I have been involved in a lot of these games and had pretty mixed fortunes. As a player, Dundee United probably had the upper hand but that was probably their greatest ever team we were facing.
"They were managed by Jim McLean and had great players all the way from Hamish McAlpine in goal to John Holt, David Narey, Paul Hegarty, Billy Kirkwood, Paul Sturrock and Davie Dodds. They were fantastic in Scotland and Europe at that time and we would be nervous about facing them in the week leading up to games.
"To Dundee's credit, we closed the gap between the sides during my first spell as a player."
The fans play a huge part in making derby games memorable and Duffy admits that they were not scared in telling his side what they thought as he explained: "You would be told how much this game meant to supporters of Dundee and they were no different to the Celtic or the Morton fans – they want you to win all your games but they really want you to win your derby game."
Dundee's summer move to the SPL brings the game back just a few weeks after over 10,000 supporters watched the clubs face each other in a pre-season friendly and Duffy said: "Having this game again will be a welcome addition to that League. Dundee will be a good addition to the SPL and both clubs and the city are winners because of the increased exposure having three or four of these games a season will bring."
Duffy's time as a player at Dundee came to a premature end aged just 28 due to a knee injury although rest proved to the perfect cure and he returned to playing two years later after a spell of being acquainted with being the Manager of a team in a derby encounter.
Duffy was appointed to manage Falkirk and his Bairns' side lost one of his early games 3-0 in their 'Kincardineshire Derby' with Dunfermline Athletic however, they more than made up for it in March 1989 with a 4-0 success.
"It was a midweek game and Brockville was rocking for it and again the passion from the fans shone through," said Duffy before adding, "It was my first big game as a Manager, a real test as we had slipped to fourth place but we won well with Dundee United Manager Peter Houston scoring one of the goals.
"I think I earned a lot of credibility with the Falkirk fans after that game and I remember a few of them had t-shirts made up to mark the result."
After a brief playing comeback at Dens Park, Duffy returned to the west end of Glasgow where he was raised and signed for Partick Thistle. The defender played in three derbies for landlords Partick Thistle against tenants Clyde in their last season at Firhill.
Duffy said: "John Lambie was our Manager and of course, the games were all played at Firhill in the First Division. My assistant at Clyde, Chic Charnley, scored in a couple of them but that was typical of Chic.
"These games were not the biggest derbies in Glasgow but they had an extra level of attention and there was an extra emphasis on you to do well. Chic loved that, he enjoyed big games and he would excel in them by knowing when to put his foot on the ball and when to do something a bit different."
Duffy added: "He would smile away at opposing fans, score goals and probably get sent off. He was like that when I had him as a player at Dundee and you need players like him in big games. The atmosphere could have been hostile but sometimes with Chic, the more hostile the more he would enjoy it.
"I enjoyed my time there, Thistle got promoted and I then returned to Dundee for a third spell in 1992 to become the Player/Assistant Manager to Simon Stainrod before becoming Player/Manager in the autumn of 1993."
The Dark Blues enjoyed more success with Duffy at the helm than as a player over their United neighbours although the Broadwood Manager is not a great one for pointing to statistics to prove his case.
Duffy explained: "I just know we had a better record as a Manager as the gap between the sides had decreased. At first, we were still the underdogs and I remember winning a game 1-0 when Duncan Ferguson was playing for United. That was a great result as not much had been expected from us going into that game.
"The games tend to roll into one and I remember getting a win when Stevie Lovell scored and in another game when Gerry Britton and George Shaw also netted. We also won a game 2-1 at Tannadice and I remember that one as we played really well in that game."
The Edinburgh derby was up next for Duffy and it was to be a baptism of fire for the new Hibernian Manager following his appointment on 30th December, 1996.
Duffy explained what happened: "I was appointed one day and then held my first training session on Hogmanay for the New Year's Day game against Hearts at Easter Road.
"Gordon Hunter got sent off early on and we lost 4-0 and it was probably the most horrible way to start a new job. It really was the worst case scenario and not a memory I cherish."
Things improved however, with Duffy saying: "I never managed a win over Hearts but the following January 1st, it felt like I did. We were two down at Tynecastle at half-time and it should have been more but we rallied and drew 2-2 with Andy Walker getting both the goals. Coming back like that felt almost as good as a win."
A move to England saw Duffy coach at Chelsea before finding out that derby games on the south coast of England were just as meaningful as those on the east coast of Scotland when he was Assistant Manager to Graham Rix at Portsmouth.
He said: "Portsmouth's games with Southampton were the closest I have seen to an Old Firm game. They were just as fiery but played out in really compact stadiums with the entrance to Fratton Park being like Coronation Street.
"Southampton had been top dogs down there for a long time but they were heading down the way and Portsmouth, under Director of Football Harry Redknapp, were beginning to move up and that added to the rivalry."
Duffy returned to Dundee again in 2002 and enjoyed a period of dominance in Tayside as he quipped: "I don't know my overall record off the top of my head against United at that time but Ian McCall always complains that he never got the better of me in a Dundee derby. He told me it was six or seven games but he brings that up more than I do."
Duffy headed down south again in 2005 to be the Assistant Manager to Peter Grant at Norwich and he took in a number of derbies against Ipswich Town however, he found the East Anglia one unique in his footballing odyssey.
"That one is called a derby which I found a bit strange as Colchester is probably closer to both teams," said Duffy before adding, "and they were not as volatile as anything I had seen before. They were good football games but there was not that on the edge of nastiness you can get elsewhere.
"It was about bragging rights at work on a Monday as opposed to having an atmosphere backed with historical aggression."
After East Anglia and before Clyde, Duffy was involved in derby matches on a fairly frequent basis when he was the Manager of Brechin City as he explained: "They were a bit different as there were less people but happened more frequently as you had Arbroath, Forfar and ourselves in the League. Again they do not have the intensity of the games played in bigger city's but the fans still expect you to win.
"If you beat Arbroath, your Directors are thrilled as it gives them a bit of a glow in the local communities. I lost to Arbroath and I got real stick, so the passion is always there."
Duffy added: "These games affect everyone as your Directors get nervous about them and they are very relieved if you win. If you win quite convincingly, they can get a wee bit ahead of themselves."
Losing home advantage for Saturday's game has been disappointing to Duffy who said: "Alloa have been good enough to host the game but it will be strange holding what was a Glasgow derby a good bit away from Glasgow. It would have been great to open the season at Broadwood with a high profile game and a good atmosphere at Broadwood but there is a lot of work going on at the ground.
"It is not just the new pitch that is being installed, there are a lot of changes going on to the dressing rooms and other parts of the fabric of the building to cater for Cumbernauld Colts coming to the ground."
Duffy added: "The pitch should be ready for the start of the new League season and despite all the rain, the work has gone well."
It will be a tough game for a new look Clyde side with Duffy adding: "It will be the first time I have faced Partick Thistle as Clyde boss and having been there as a player and being from Maryhill, there is a bit of spice in it already.
"Whether it was Broadwood, Firhill or Recreation Park, we would still have been the underdogs as I fancy Thistle to have a very good season in what will be a very open First Division this season."
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