RANGERS have resolved a dispute with their players over their personal ticket allocation for the Old Firm game.
Players had complained that they were not receiving the usual allocation of complimentary tickets for the first Rangers-Celtic game for almost three years, but captain/player-coach Lee McCulloch said the matter had now been resolved between the squad and the club.
McCulloch said that neither that nor any other outside issue should be seized upon as an excuse if Rangers, as expected, lose to strong favourites Celtic in Sunday's League Cup semi-final at Hampden.
"There are tickets available for us," said McCulloch. "It's not really been a distraction. You could look at it that way, I suppose, but I am a big believer that if you want excuses you can put them there in front of you. A very, very small thing about tickets? I wouldn't be having a player using that as an excuse going into a game. That happens in the run-up to most games. It is not even half an issue. It is all sorted."
McCulloch said there could be no doubt that his team, currently second in the Championship, were underdogs against the team at the top of the Premiership. "I think that goes without saying. We are massive underdogs. It is good that we have a mentality that we want to go and show people that we are capable of winning. It takes a bit of pressure off. All the pressure will be on Celtic. We're not going into it relaxed. But we know it's an Old Firm game and we know there is a place in the final at stake. We will be looking to get there. It's not really for me to say how big the gulf is between the two teams. I think we will see on Sunday if there is a big gulf."
Bookmakers have Celtic at 2/5 and Rangers at up to 8/1. "I'm not into all of the odds and stuff like that. What I would say is that it is going to be really hard for us just like it has been in the past. It is really hard to win an Old Firm game and Sunday will be no different."
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