THE memory can play tricks but for those of us who lived through the Graeme Souness era at Rangers it did seem like a new signing was unveiled every other week.
Indeed, in the days when calling the Old Firm match just that would not have a journalist being reported for crimes against the Trades Description Act, every fixture with Celtic meant a debut, or so it felt, being handed to the most recently arrived purchase from English football.
One such player moved up at the end of 1989 in the form of Nigel Spackman, an under-appreciated central midfielder who only a year before had played every game in a title-winning season for a superb Liverpool side, and his introduction to Scottish football came on January 2 at Celtic Park.
Spackman was 29 then and had played in far bigger matches than those who will find themselves on Saturday in the position he did almost 27 years ago with all due respect to Joe Garner, Jordan Rossiter, Joe Dodoo, Clint Hill and also Joey Barton although he naturally would dispute this.
All those mentioned above are just days away from experiencing a game that even an old stager such as Spackman was found himself totally unprepared for. In saying that they would do well to follow the former Rangers man’s example in that he scored the only goal of his debut.
“There does seem that a lot of the guys who moved up to Scotland in the summer are going to be involved on Saturday and I can tell them that they won’t have seen and heard anything like it before,” said Spackman. My advice? Self-discipline is the key. Don’t get caught up in it all, although that is not an easy thing.
"I had just arrived a few days before, having spent time at QPR after my years at Liverpool, and thought I had seen it all. Then we got the bus to Celtic Park and the abuse which was aimed at us stunned me. The new boys on Saturday will have to deal with this. They will even notice it when they go out to check the grass when deciding what stud to wear. That’s when it got to me.
“You have to handle it. You have no choice. It will be different to anything they have played in before, including Joey, and listen to the guys in the dressing room who played in the semi-final.
“Mind you, I do remember John Brown, Ian Durrant and Iain Ferguson were climbing the walls. I was like ‘guys, calm down. There is an hour and a half to go. You’ll be knackered.’”
Spackman, now 55, fears for his old team this weekend. Unlike some others with an attachment to Ibrox, he is of the opinion that fourth place in the league would be a good season for Rangers, that Celtic will take some stopping in their quest for a Treble and those wearing blue will need luck just to take a point from Glasgow’s east end.
A hell of a lot of things have changed since his two years in the city.
“Some of the other issues which surround the Old Firm, and I think you know what I’m talking about, I found difficult to get my head around,” admitted Spackman. “But the one thing I enjoyed was winning with Rangers and we won all the time.
“Rangers had all the money and it means we won it all. I would see the Celtic boys out and about, I’d talk to them, we’d have a beer together no problem at all, but the abuse they got from their own supporters was something to see.
“They would ignore us to have a go at their own players. Now it’s all changed. A complete and utter role reversal.”
All eyes will be on Barton to see if he can produce the performance he’s been promising. An Old Firm debut goal would certainly help him silence the detractors which exists among his own support.
“My goal came after half an hour,” recalled Spackman wrongly. It was actually on 14 minutes. “I won the ball in midfield (from Paul McStay), got a pass to Mo Johnstone and continued my run; I even got away from big Paul Elliot. Ally McCoist took it on and while he claimed he crossed, it was a scuffed shot which I tapped in.
“It was at the Celtic end and there was silence. The lads all jumped on me but I remember thinking ‘Have I actually scored? Then I looked up the other end and the red, white and blue were going mad.
“It had been the best part of 20 years since Rangers had won at Celtic Park at New Year. It was really only afterwards when I had to deal with the press that I realised what I had just done. It was a few years ago now but I will never forget that goal.”
That was then and this is now. Spackman is a fan of Mark Warburton and believes the club are in safe hands at long last. But his take is that it will be some time before the Rangers players can lord it over their rivals in the manner his lot could.
“Celtic will make millions from the Champions League and Rangers can’t compete with that,” he said. “Rangers are way behind and might be for a while.
“In saying that, if Mark can get his players organised and if the new boys can handle Saturday, then you never know. I still wouldn’t rule out Rangers taking something from the game.”
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