Last night's Scottish Cup clash between Celtic and Rangers - which included 13 yellow cards, three red cards and several other flashpoints - has been roundly condemned.

Numan played in the famous fixture himself during his time at Ibrox and has also witnessed derbies in his native Holland, where he believes the tensions run just as high.

"Sometimes I compare the Old Firm with Ajax and Feyenoord in Holland," he said.

"I think the rivalry between their supporters is worse than Rangers and Celtic.

"The cup final in Holland is always played in Rotterdam but last year they decided to play the final over two legs.

"The first game was in Amsterdam with no away supporters from Feyenoord.

"Five days later, the other game was played in Rotterdam with no Ajax supporters because the police expected too much trouble.

"It's not only here in Scotland, you see it happening everywhere.

"I've been to Turkey and seen their derbies and sometimes it is five times worse than it is in Scotland so don't think it is only here in Glasgow, it's everywhere."

He added: "It's only a game, it's 90 minutes and after the game it should be over.

"But it's not like that because people go home and it's still in their minds.

"The following day, they wake up and go to work and they get the banter from colleagues.

"But that's Glasgow, that's Rangers, that's Celtic. I can't imagine Glasgow without the Old Firm.

"It's part of the city, it's the culture, it gives the people joy and it gives them something to look forward to."

Numan is now relishing the prospect of this month's Co-operative Insurance Cup final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden on March 20 and hopes lessons will have been learned.

He said: "A lot of people will look forward to the cup final now but hopefully they will realise after what happened yesterday that they should focus on the football and not get involved in stupid things on the park.

"It's the first trophy of the season that either Rangers or Celtic can win so all the supporters will be fired up.

"The press will have all the stories in the paper and have it fired up as well.

"I will be there myself because I have been there on the park and now I can be part of the people in the stand."