ANDY McDowall was a careful, protective father.

So fearful was Kenny's old man about the mischief which could transpire on the terraces on Old Firm day that his son was effectively banned throughout childhood from going to watch his boyhood heroes Rangers in action against Celtic.

It wasn't until he had turned 18, and was a professional footballer himself with Partick Thistle, that the man who leads the Ibrox club into today's League Cup semi-final first ventured out to attend the Glasgow grudge match. He vividly recalls sharing a mixed car with Thistle team-mates to attend one game won by Rangers. Suffice to say he would accept the same result at Hampden this lunchtime.

"I only went to a couple," recalled the Rangers caretaker boss, who will take charge of his maiden Old Firm match despite announcing his intention to leave at the end of his contract. "My dad wouldn't let me go because of a lot of what went on around the games. I was from Drumchapel and didn't really venture out of there much at a young age unless it was to play with the boys club I was at.

"I was playing quite a lot at that stage as well. I wanted to be a player. I preferred to watch it in the house in my own comfort because you get a better view and I quite liked having a few mates round and watching if it was on the TV.

"But I remember when I was at Partick Thistle there was myself, big Roddie Hutchison and Paul McKenzie, who was a Celtic supporter and I think started at Celtic Boys Club. We left Firhill one midweek to go and Rangers won 2-1. Big Paul was to meet us back at the motor but when we got back there we sat and waited and waited. Eventually he arrived but the head was well down when we were going for a pint. He had to endure quite a battering from us for the next hour."

Today will be another first for McDowall, but in terms of Hampden memories he has quite a back catalogue. Not only is the 51-year-old a grizzled veteran of numerous Old Firm youth clashes - his Celtic side carried all before them for the best part of 10 years - in 14 previous visits to the national stadium since being persuaded to join Walter Smith's coaching staff he has lost just once. That came, in extra time, to Celtic, in the League Cup final of March 2009. His favourite Old Firm encounter was one where Rangers were clear underdogs, his first since crossing the divide, a 1-0 win at Celtic Park, courtesy of an Ugo Ehiogu goal.

"At first team level you stick 60,000 in and it makes it a whole lot different," said McDowall. "That is the real deal. But when you're taking the second team like I was, there are still a lot of first team guys about it. It had the passion of the Old Firm game. It was always at Ibrox and Celtic Park, there was always a crowd."

While he feels it is a fairly even split when it comes to Old Firm experience in either side, McDowall didn't need to think twice about picking up the phone to Walter Smith for tactical pointers. Some might suggest that means the same "anti-football" tactics which took Rangers to the Uefa Cup final in 2008, but McDowall knows he will have to open up at some point.

"The fact it's a semi-final of a cup makes it slightly different," he said. "At the end of the day if I want to get to a cup final I'm going to need to try to score a goal to win the game."

For all the advice he receives, it will be Kenny McDowall out there - that same kid who stood on those terraces - giving the team talk. "I think there's a bit of me that's got to come out," he said. "I mean, how can I model myself on Walter Smith? I've only been put in charge for five weeks. I've not turned into [Jose] Mourinho all of the sudden. I will say how I feel when that time comes. But, you know what, and this is a thing Walter did say - motivation is an incredible thing. Us as coaches and managers can only motivate so much. Self-motivation must come from players. They need to take it upon themselves to go out and get themselves to a League Cup final."