Terry Butcher’s Old Firm experiences are certainly mixed ones, but they haven’t been for Rangers as a whole recently.
During his time as a Ger between 1986 and 1990, Butcher won and lost plenty of the fixtures. At the moment, however, the club are in a dreadful run of 12 Glasgow derbies without a win.
Steven Gerrard’s first experience of the heated fixture ended in a 1-0 defeat at Celtic Park back in September. That, however, came at a point when the Rangers squad was still gelling. Come December 29th at Ibrox, there’ll be no excuses if the Ibrox side fail to turn up against their rivals yet again at their home ground.
And Butcher claims that finally getting that elusive win against Celtic has to be the big target in the coming weeks. Speaking in the Daily Record this morning, Butcher touched on the huge clash next month.
“Celtic seem to have had a breather during the early part of the season, then wham and they find top gear. I’m looking at Rangers and asking if there is one game where they can beat Celtic this season. I would set that as a target for the Rangers players.
“The next one against Celtic will always be the target whether it’s in the league or cup. People say you’re not judged on the Celtic games in the Premiership because they’re normally so far ahead.
““But you’re always judged on the Celtic games as a Rangers manager. You could say Rangers were a bit closer in the 1-0 defeat at Parkhead earlier this season but Celtic were still very dominant in the game. Stevie will learn from that.”
Unthinkable for it to happen again
Rangers supporters need to see something different from their side in December. A similar performance to the one at Celtic Park back in September would be highly unthinkable.
It’s going to be the first match at Ibrox where Celtic will bring just 800 supporters. They even may make the decision to not take any tickets, but that’s still highly unlikely. Rangers, therefore, are going to have a slightly bigger advantage given their vocal support.
Butcher’s comments, however, are spot on. Rangers just have to beat them at some stage this season. The club are going to be judged on how close they are to Celtic combined with what they did against them in the Old Firm fixture. If Gerrard’s side don’t lay a glove on Celtic this season, it will be difficult to take the progress too seriously.
Gerrard must learn that sitting back and allowing Brendan Rodgers’ side the ball just won’t work. They’ll eventually find a way through you and you’ll leave with nothing. Instead, Celtic have had their troubles when they’ve been pressed high and not allowed any space to operate in the midfield.
Hearts and Livingston in particular have both shown what’s possible against Rodgers’ side if you get in their faces. Celtic don’t like that, and Rangers should have the players to make life very difficult for them at Ibrox.
The challenge has been thrown down to the Rangers players – can they beat Celtic? There’s no doubt about it, they simply have to.
