The Rangers support may already be enraptured by Mark Warburton and the job he has done since taking over a listing ship at Ibrox and correcting its course towards the Premiership, but with his first Old Firm clash on the horizon today, a victory for the light blues would elevate him to hero status.
Walter Smith knows the feeling only too well. His illustrious career as Rangers manager was aided by an early chance to take on Celtic in a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden, and despite fearing the worst when David Robertson was red-carded after just six minutes for a foul on Joe Miller, an Ally McCoist strike on the stroke of half time was enough to see Rangers through.
It was an early marker laid down by Smith in his Ibrox reign, and with Celtic assuming the favourites tag on this occasion and the pressure that comes with it, he sees the match as almost a free chance for the class of 2016 to get one over their oldest rivals.
He said: "When you are a new manager like Mark Warburton is, you would like to cement your place and relationship with the supporters in the sense of winning. You are not going to do that if you don't show that you can handle the circumstances.
"I got an early chance when Graeme [Souness] left with three league games that we had to try and win. Then the Scottish cup semi-final came along in my first season and I showed that I could cope and get through that aspect of it.
"The fact the semi-final was an Old Firm game made a bit of difference within the Rangers support.
"The main thing for Mark Warburton is that he has made a great impression since he came in. I don't think people will look at this game and say it will be a massive indication of how Rangers are going to be under Warburton.
"He has done what he was brought in to do and that is to win the Championship and get Rangers back to the top flight. He has set out his team in his manner and everybody can see the way Rangers are trying to play which is great. This is the wee bit of icing on the cake for him.
"Being an Old Firm game it still matters and has that levels of importance especially for the bragging rights of the supporters.
"I don't think there will be a similar set-up to the first Old Firm game next season as there will be changes to both camps in the summer.
"Sunday's game stands alone and it is the Scottish Cup semi-final and if you are the manager of Rangers or Celtic you want to win it.”
As well as being Warburton’s first taste of the Old Firm fixture today, there could be as many as nine players in light blue who have yet to experience the unique madness of the occasion. Smith is unconcerned by that statistic though.
"Sometimes it is easier when it is your first Old Firm game,” he said. "You have no baggage as you don't know what it is like and then you lose a couple and you start to realise what it is all about quickly.
"If you are at Rangers these are the games you want to be involved in. With no disrespect to any of the Championship teams Rangers do not want to be playing in that division or in League One or League Two. They don't want that.
"They want to be playing in the Premiership and if you want to be playing in the Premiership you want to be playing Celtic and going to Aberdeen and Tynecastle to face Hearts where it is difficult to get a result. If you don't want that challenge then you shouldn't be at Rangers or Celtic.”
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