ANDY GORAM possesses the mindset you might expect from a veteran of military operations rather than the heat and dust of the Old Firm derby.

He retired from active service at Rangers more than 17 years ago, but, in his case, it is clear that the war is never really over.

As Scottish football prepares itself for next month’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final between the Ibrox side and Celtic, it is only natural that the heroes of yesteryear will be trotted out, their past heroics relived, their sage advice handed down to those preparing to march in their footsteps.

Goram certainly performed with distinction in the field against his club’s greatest rivals. Tommy Burns, then manager at Parkhead, famously stated that they would carve ‘Andy Goram Broke My Heart’ on his tombstone as a result of the Oldham-born goalkeeper’s continually masterful displays.

The thing is, Goram is still trying to break Celtic hearts at the grand old age of 51. He regularly turns out in the colours of his old club in charity matches and it is the ones in which Celtic teams, of some description or other, provide the opposition that he relishes most.

The very sight of those green-and-white hoops still conjures up the smell of blood in the nostrils. He talks proudly of how he took “a kicking” in one just a matter of weeks ago. He insists he will never turn down the chance to relive past glories in public parks and lesser-known grounds all over the country.

Playing Celtic still means something to him. It is an emotion he expects Mark Warburton’s recently-assembled squad to appreciate and understand when it comes to their door in just over a month’s time.

“I play charity games once or twice a month,” explains Goram. “I am sore for a week after it. I’m in bad way, but I still want to play.

“A lot of the charity games are Celtic against Rangers and you just can’t say ‘no’ to playing against Celtic.

“I played a charity game in Dalgety Bay a few weeks ago and one boy really smashed me.

“Even if it is amateurs you are playing against, Under-10s or Under-12s, you are going to get that when it is Rangers against Celtic. It is the nature of the beast and that is fine.

“You just can’t turn down the chance to play against Celtic whatever the level. It is in your blood. It’s your life.”

Many players have struggled in the Glasgow goldfish bowl, failed to handle the unique pressures of the Old Firm derby. They couldn’t get away from it quickly enough. That is something that could never be levelled at Goram.

No matter how chaotic his off-field life, no matter the headlines he was attracting, he maintained an incredible standard on the field for Rangers. Matches against Celtic were, arguably, where he raised his game to its highest level.

For many, meetings involving Glasgow’s blue and green halves are noisy, tense, vaguely unpleasant. Goram loved them. As he reveals, the football field, at one stage in time, was the only place in which he felt he was really in control of his destiny.

“You have got to be a different animal to play for Rangers or Celtic,” he said. “There is no point being just a good player.

“You need to have the right attitude and be a winner, blah, blah, blah. All the usual things.

“You have to block everything else out when it comes to those matches.

“I was lucky enough to be able to do that. I had a lot of problems off-the-field, as everyone knows, but the pitch was always somewhere I could go to get out of the way. That was my wee domain, the 18-yard box.

“That was my home. Nobody could get at me there. It was my escape and it was probably a good thing for me.

“I could go and do my thing. I was playing for Rangers. It was my life and my love. I was playing with guys I loved. We basically lived with each other for three or four days a week, we knocked our pans in for each other, shed blood, shed tears.

“Even now, the pitch is my salvation.”

Goram was hurt by the way a wounded Rangers team, failing in the Championship and falling apart behind the scenes, was brushed aside by Celtic in last season’s League Cup semi-final. The Ibrox side failed to register a shot on target, going down 2-0 in the most routine fashion imaginable.

He expects next month’s encounter to be somewhat different and believes it is Celtic and their manager Ronny Deila, already facing a serious challenge from Aberdeen for their Ladbrokes Premiership title, who have most to be afraid of.

“I think Celtic will be more worried about us than we will be about them given the way we are playing,” he said. “When Celtic turn up, they are a right good side. However, everyone knows that they are vulnerable at the back.

“I would love the game to be right now because I thought Rangers’ performance against Dundee in the last round was sensational.

“We are getting clean sheets regularly now as well. That was always key to our success in the 1990s.”

Goram regarded his manager, Walter Smith, as a real father figure back then and suspects the Class of 2016 may be starting to feel the same way about Warburton.

“I think he speaks in a similar fashion to Walter when I was there,” he said. “I see similarities. I believe he is the kind of guy you would want to play for.”

*Andy Goram was speaking at the launch of the new Paddy Power shop in Coatbridge, Whifflet Lane.