The fab four: Why Aberdeen, Celtic, Hearts and Rangers have unwanted records and escape from wilderness on line in Scottish Cup

A showpiece Scottish Cup weekend awaits at Hampden

The first Scottish Cup final was held in March 1874, meaning that this is a significant year. A rich tapestry has unfolded in the 150 since and yet what hasn’t happened in the subsequent century and a half is as interesting as what has.

Take for example this weekend’s semi-final programme, which begins on Saturday at 12.30pm when Celtic take on Aberdeen and concludes on Sunday as Hearts meet Rangers at a pleasingly traditional time of 3pm. Few save for some Hibernian supporters would feel a strong urge to disagree with the contention that these are the four biggest clubs in the land.

And yet. Certainly with regard to two of the four teams in action at the national stadium, their Scottish Cup records need some urgent attention. Celtic can be spared censure, since they are defending a trophy they lifted last year against Inverness Caledonian Thistle and in fact have won seven times in the last 13 years. Rangers, meanwhile, were winners in 2022. Their significant elation that afternoon against Hearts underlined just how long it had been since they last went up to lift the Scottish Cup, a now sadly defunct concept after last year's shift to an on-field presentation podium.

Celtic and Aberdeen do battle in the first Scottish Cup final this weekend.

The Ibrox club hadn't previously won the competition since 2009. The intervening years included a lower league sojourn that nevertheless saw them reach the final in 2016, where they lost out in an epic, tempestuous clash to Hibs.

All the travails currently being experienced by manager Philippe Clement won't necessarily be swept away by defeating Hearts, but they will be horribly exacerbated if they don't. Indeed, it would represent a historic low for the Ibrox club, who have never lost to Hearts at the national stadium. In the space of seven days it’s possible the Belgian could oversee a first-ever loss to Ross County followed by a maiden defeat to Hearts at Hampden. Failure to score against Dundee for the first time since 2001 would also not look too clever in between.

What is going on at Ibrox? The Belgian himself might like to know although he raised eyebrows by suggesting little was wrong after the goalless draw in midweek on the green, green grass – enhanced by green paint, Clement alleged beforehand – of Dens Park. He stood by this assessment of his side's display, rowing back only slightly. “It was better than (against) Ross County,” he said on Friday.

The performance will undoubtedly need to be better again to defeat Hearts, who are bidding to win the Scottish Cup for the first time in what feels like, for them, a relative age. It’s now a dozen years since that famous 5-1 victory over Hibs. Even their Easter Road rivals have lifted the trophy in the interim. The Gorgie club tasted success three times between 1998 and 2012. After decades in the Scottish Cup wilderness, it felt like a rapprochement. But this more harmonious relationship with the trophy is threatening to wear off.

Rangers have never lost to Hearts at Hampden.

That's already happened in the case of Aberdeen. The Pittodrie club proudly, if somewhat belatedly, released a statement on Tuesday confirming the announcement of their "twenty-fifth permanent manager” Jimmy Thelin, who has agreed to move from Swedish club Elfsborg at the end of the season. The citing of ‘permanent’ meant they could try to pretend the Neil Warnock era had never happened, although of course it did. Indeed, Aberdeen are at Hampden because of him. Not solely, of course, but the quarter-final victory over Kilmarnock was the 75-year-old's last match in charge before surprising everyone by quitting afterwards.

He announced that Aberdeen were well down the line to appointing someone else, which was a bit of a white lie it turns out. Thelin took a while to reel in but he will finally arrive in June. Will the Swede be joining the reigning Scottish Cup champions? It's possible, although Aberdeen haven't held that status since the reign of their 12th permanent manager, Alex Smith. In tandem with Jocky Scott, he helped inspire a victory over Celtic on penalties in May 1990.

Those now in their early 50s were teenagers when the world's oldest trophy was last in Aberdeen's possession, which is an unfathomable thought when one considers that the Pittodrie side lifted the Scottish Cup three times IN A ROW in the previous decade. Now stringing three victories of any sort together seems like something of a pipedream. It’s happened just once this season – back under 24th permanent manager Barry Robson in September. Fortune (and Bojan Miovski) favoured Aberdeen in November when they overcame Hibs in the Viaplay Cup semi-final. They will likely need more of that magic formula to reach the final next month.

Brendan Rodgers' Celtic represent a sizeable obstacle. Saturday is the Parkhead manager's first visit to Hampden on Celtic duty since winning the League Cup against the same opponents in 2018, courtesy of Ryan Christie's winner on the stroke of half time. It was Rodgers’ seventh straight – and last – trophy in his first spell, with his second period in charge still to completely ignite. This could very well happen in the coming weeks, with Celtic's prospects having brightened significantly in recent days without the need to even kick a ball. They will be required to do so against Aberdeen, perhaps even from the penalty spot mark at the end of 120 minutes.

Aberdeen trio Theo Snelders (left), Alex McLeish (centre) and Brian Irvine celebrate the Scottish Cup win in 1990 - the last time the Dons landed the trophy.

It would count as a major surprise if it’s anything other than a meeting of the two Old Firm rivals back at Hampden for the final on May 25, something else that hasn’t happened for a surprising length of time. Almost 15 per cent worth of Scottish Cup history has elapsed since Rangers last met Celtic at this stage. The last time was 22 years ago, amid grave concerns about the state of the Hampden pitch a mere ten days before the stadium was also due to host the Champions League final between Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid.

What price an Aberdeen v Hearts final? Maybe ask the Scottish punter who scooped over £100,000 after predicting Rangers’ defeat in Dingwall last weekend together with the home losses suffered by Liverpool and Arsenal on the same day. Perhaps the real jackpot winners are the newly relaunched Premier Sports. Although BBC Scotland will also show Celtic v Aberdeen, they own the rights to show both sold-out last-four ties that seem set to grant the broadcaster an explosive welcome back to Scottish football.