KIRK BROADFOOT, a veteran of Rangers’ last success at Celtic Park six years ago, will be in the minority on Saturday as he and his Rotherham team-mates feast their eyes on the first Old Firm match of the season.

Firstly, he will be outnumbered and secondly he is bucking the consensus that Celtic are going to run out convincing winners.

The 32-year-old defender knows the bragging rights are on the line with Alan Stubbs, Darnell Fisher and even boyhood Rangers fan Scott Allan in the opposition camp but Broadfoot is confident his old club can prevail against the odds.

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Broadfoot, recovering from minor back surgery, said: “I had a bit of banter with Scotty when he first signed, because I'm not quite sure which way he’s going these days! I think I’m the only diehard Rangers man in that dressing room. Scotty was, but I don’t think he is now and you’ve got Darnell and of course the gaffer who are both Celtic men so we’ve had some banter, too.

“Dom Ball obviously played for Rangers last season so he will be in my corner. Celtic have started strongly and they have had the lift of qualifying for the Champions League as well as a new manager coming in.

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“They have very good players and they have the experience so I don’t think there is any doubt that they will be favourites going into it. But I don’t see why Rangers can’t go and get a result. They did it at Hampden last season and they have brought in plenty of experience since then.

“The guys who played in that semi last year will be all the better for it because it means they are not going into an Old Firm game for the first time. These are the games that the new players have joined Rangers for. I played against Joey Barton last season when he was at Burnley and he was one of the best players on the park. He completely ran the game.

Broadfoot knows the atmosphere at Parkhead will be intense, but he used to thrive upon it and fondly remembers the 3-1 success on October 24, 2010 when Rangers came from behind to blitz Celtic in the second half and the 4-2 win in 2008.

“I used to love going to Parkhead. There is obviously that hatred in these games and you can feel it when you get off the bus and that just gives you another incentive and you can’t wait to get out there and play. Then you’ve got that 7000 or so Rangers fans in that corner and they make some noise.

“I was on the bench in 2010 but Sasa Papac got injured in the first minute and I think I spent the whole of the first half warming up thinking I was coming on. At half-time he decided he couldn’t continue and I came on. We were one down after Gary Hooper had scored just before half-time but we really stepped it up in the second half and we ran out convincing 3-1 winners."

“Hopefully Rangers can get the result this weekend and that will give everyone at the club a lift.”