RANGERS beating Celtic tomorrow won’t change anything in the bigger picture. Celtic are going to win the league this season and so even a defeat at Ibrox won’t knock them off their stride. For once, the title isn’t on the line going into an Old Firm derby.
It still matters, though. Of course it does. Rangers fans will have grown sick of hearing about how far Celtic are ahead of them. I can’t remember the last time there was such a disparity between the two sides and so Rangers will be determined to land a bloody nose on their rivals, even if it’s just to give their supporters the bragging rights going into the winter break.
They will certainly want to avoid the season being whitewashed. Celtic have already won twice – one in the league and one in the cup – and they have the capabilities this season to win the remaining three games as well, assuming the teams aren’t also drawn together in the Scottish Cup.
I suffered that fate during my time as a Rangers player and it wasn’t nice at all. My record, in fact, in this fixture was really poor. I calculated the other day that I had played in 12 OId Firm games – either starting or coming off the bench – and lost 11, winning only one.
And the one that we won I actually started but came off after 25 minutes with ruptured ankle ligaments so even that isn’t a brilliant memory. What was more remarkable was that we still won the league twice in that time. But season 2003/04 was the definite nadir when we played Celtic five times and lost the lot.
When that happens you virtually go into hiding for the week following a defeat. You don’t want to bump into either gloating Celtic fans or hurting Rangers fans.
The fixture means so much to the supporters that you really feel you’ve let them down when you don’t get a result. I scored two Old Firm goals but, again, both came in 2-1 defeats so I can only look back on them with mixed feelings. Yes, it was great to score in such a world-renowned fixture but ultimately my team still lost both games.
I enjoyed the anticipation of the fixture more than the match itself. The build-up was like no another league game. I’d compare it to the week leading into a cup final given the intensity, the scrutiny, the media focus and the expectation you’d hear from any of your fans you’d meet in the street.
At Rangers we would usually stay in a hotel the night before the game and I remember standing freezing in the car park at 3am after someone – a Celtic fan I’d guess – had smashed the fire alarm. That wasn’t the best preparation for a big match. And that happened on two separate occasions!
I didn’t really enjoy the overall Old Firm experience but that was mainly because we lost so many. Once the whistle went – and this might be hard to believe – but you’d largely be able to forget about the madness around you. And then the ball would go out for a corner and a throw-in and you’d get a chance to take a quick look around the ground and it would hit you all over again.
Although Rangers’ record was poor in my day as I’ve mentioned, the teams were still fairly evenly balanced. We’d go into each of these games believing we could win and the defeats tended to be narrow ones.
The calibre of players on show from both sides was phenomenal, too. Celtic had Neil Lennon, Paul Lambert, Chris Sutton, John Hartson, Stan Petrov, and Henrik Larsson, while we had Ronald de Boer, Mikel Arteta, Shota Arveladze, Michael Mols and Barry Ferguson. Those were two terrific sides.
Now, there is a massive gap and it is down to Rangers to see if they can bridge it. One thing going in their favour might be that the match is at home.
Many of the Celtic team won’t have played at Ibrox before and the home fans will be noisy and really up for this one. That could be a factor. But having played in the Nou Camp and the Etihad already this season, you’d expect the Celtic players not too be too fazed coming out of the Ibrox tunnel.
Brendan Rodgers has been quoted as saying the result tomorrow doesn’t matter by which he probably means they will likely win the league regardless.
But he will want to win, make no mistake. Celtic, domestically, have tended to play in the same offensive style away from home as they have at Parkhead and I think even at Ibrox they will look to get on to the front foot.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they opted for a whirlwind opening, similar to how they started at home against Manchester City, by locking high on to the Rangers backline and pressing them intently. We saw the joy St Johnstone got the other night by doing that and Celtic have the players who can take advantage of any similar slip-ups by the Rangers defence.
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