Rodgers backs Celtic skipper Brown to keep his cool in Old Firm contest with Rangers rival Barton

Their contest in the centre of the park in the first Glasgow derby match of the 2016/17 campaign promises to be a feisty one – but Rodgers has complete confidence in his skipper being able to maintain his composure.

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“I think he has shown great discipline,” he said. “What you see now with Scott is a 31-year-old man with maturity. A guy who understands the consequence of what happens on the field. And has now matured to a new level.

“You have seen it many a time over the years, that a guy who is really aggressive when they are younger, full of beans, competitive and as they mature they learn how to handle that a wee bit better. That is what I see in Scott.

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“His performances have been a really, really high level and he is a real driving force in the team. He knows his responsibility when he is in the team.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Miller has urged his team mates to back up their confident predictions about how Rangers will perform in the Ladbrokes Premiership this season with a win against Celtic today.

The Ibrox club returned to the top flight this summer after four seasons in the lower leagues and many of their players, not least Barton, have insisted they will be able to challenge their Glasgow rivals for the Scottish title.

However, Miller, who believes that Rangers can give their hopes of winning the Premiership a huge lift by prevailing in the first meeting with Celtic this term, feels they must do their talking on the park.

“We’ve done a lot of talking off the field about wanting to come up and put in a challenge because the demands of the club are such that nothing less is expected,” he said.

“So you can do a lot of talking, but when you cross that white line, you need to back that up. This is an opportunity for us to do that.”

Miller added: “It (victory) can give you momentum. It is a huge, huge result for us in the con-text of us coming back up.

“Going top of the league with a win is the added incentive. There’s nothing better than relaxing back after a game and seeing yourselves top of the league. That’s another wee thing that goes into the mix.”

Barton is sure to be singled out for abuse by the Celtic supporters following his derogatory remarks about Brown and Rodgers, who he claimed was having a mid-life crisis.

However, Miller, who will play in his 19th Old Firm game this afternoon, has no concerns about the vastly-experienced player being able to cope with the intense atmosphere which is sure to be generated inside Celtic Park.

“I haven’t spoken to Joey about it at all,” he said. “I wouldn’t insult him by trying to impart any wisdom on him because he has been about the game long enough.

“He’s an avid football fan and would have seen many, many Old Firm games. It doesn’t pre-pare you for the noise and atmosphere and tempo but he’s fully aware of what it means to both sets of fans.

“I’m sure the Celtic fans will try to wind him up, just as our fans would with Scott Brown. You do that if you think there’s a wee chink in their armour, if you can get under their skin.

“What Joey has said off the field? No-one would have expected anything different. He’s an opinionated man, he says things to get reactions, there’s no doubt about it. But he’ll be fully focused on the job in hand which, for him, will be to go and dominate this game of football.

“He’s a great lad, a great addition to the dressing room. He’s opinionated, very strong in his beliefs about how things should be done on a professional level, but he has been a pleasure to work with every day. The more winners in your dressing room, the more lads who are winners and care, the more likely you are to be successful.”

Miller revealed that Warburton had urged his players to concentrate on their game – as they did in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic last season when they romped to a surprise triumph.

“Since the manager and David Weir have come in, the big thing for them has been, if you are playing Celtic or Alloa, that teams are going to raise their game to try and stop us playing the way we want to play,” he said.

“They try and make it a battle, try to stifle you, and we’ve got to try and take that out of this game. As much as it is full of emotion and passion, if you can set it aside and concentrate on the job in hand, you’ll be okay.

Our objective is dominating the ball, keeping it moving, constantly moving, one or two touches, being a threat and protecting against their threat. If we can make it a football game then we’ll be okay.”