THERE are some people born to play in an Old Firm game and many more who should not be allowed anywhere near the fixture.
Ian Durrant, both pre and post injury, was a constant thorn in the side of Celtic, scoring goals at both home grounds and he even got the opener in the 1986 League Cup Final which gave Graeme Souness his first trophy as manager.
The boyhood fan got his Old Firm debut as an 18-year-old at Parkhead, a game he can still recall with some clarity. For the record the evening match passed without much incident.
Ian Durrant Photograph by Steve Welsh
There were only three red cards, Roy Aitken missed a penalty, Rangers scored a late equaliser and, according to newspaper reports from the day afterwards, mounted police clashed with fans outside the stadium.
“It was actually 32 years ago I played in my first Old Firm game and we were down to nine men at Parkhead,” says Durrant shaking his head. “Ally Dawson and Davie Cooper got sent off (as did Peter Grant) but Ally McCoist for a late equaliser for us.
Read more: Stewart Fisher: Would you want your child to sign for the other half of the Old Firm?
“Celtic were strong at that time and under big Jock Wallace we were struggling a bit. Jock wasn’t scared about throwing in the kids. There was Derek Ferguson, myself and Robert Fleck around about the squad.
“That game makes you. It gets you to man up. If you can handle that, the Old Firm, then you can probably handle any game in the world.”
Durrant was made for the derby matches. Even in his later years at Rangers when he wasn’t a regular, Walter Smith would dust him down and throw him into these games because he was always good for a goal or an assist.
But he has seen players arrive in Glasgow with decent reputations who fall apart in a fixture which has been known to make or break careers.
Durrant said: “There are players who come into it with good experience and get stage fright. You have got to play the game. If you get caught up in the atmosphere then the game will go past you. It goes that quickly.
“A boy we signed for a few bob was Jan Bartram (who actually scored against Celtic). There was also Fernando Ricksen in his first game at Parkhead and he was taken off after 22 minutes or something when Celtic were 3-0 up. Bobby Petta wiped the floor with him although Fernando later went onto handle it.
“Graeme Souness took off Bartram as well. It was similar to Fernando. Big Jan never recovered and didn’t play much after that. He arrived from Denmark with a big reputation, an international player, but the Old Firm is a different thing altogether.”
Durrant remains a Rangers supporter but is also a realist and he did not try to pretend that most folk who like a bet would fancy a home win, despite the better odds being on Mark Warburton’s men coming away with three points.
“Rangers are coming in for a bit of stick because of the points they've dropped,” he said. “But they're bedding in so many players and they've actually started OK - but Celtic have started on fire. They'd a wee sticky bit in the Champions League but their league form has been excellent with eleven goals in three games.
"They are the form team and so Rangers have to make sure they go there and aren't overrun or overawed by the occasion. It should be an occasion to savour, an occasion where these two teams put it back on the board again. Everybody's been waiting for it, we've been dying for it."
Ian Durrant was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is a proud sponsor of Scottish football.
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