Strachan & Smith
Legendary Old Firm bosses Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith sit down with Record Sport’s Keith Jackson to relive their greatest dugout moments in charge of Scotland’s big two as they look ahead to Sunday’s clash
GORDON STRACHAN believes Celtic will kill the Rangers revival stone dead in Sunday’s Old Firm shootout. In an exclusive Record Sport interview as part of the derby build-up the former Parkhead boss has backed Brendan Rodgers to put all prospect of a title race to bed by beating their rivals and sewing up a seventh successive top-flight crown. And Strachan
believes the champs will use this clash as an opportunity to send out a deafening message to their increasingly noisy neighbours.
He said: “If Rangers win then it could set off some alarm bells and put a few doubts in Celtic’s minds.
“That’s what they’ll be hoping for – to find a chink in their armour and exploit it. To cause anxiety for the rest of the season.
“Walter Smith talks about the psychological side of these games and he is right. There’s no doubt about it.
“As a Celtic or Rangers manager, even if you are nine points clear, you are worried about the ramifications of losing this game.
“But that’s the beauty of it and that’s the pressure you have to deal with as a player.
“But vice versa, if Celtic go there and go, ‘Bang! There you go, 4-0,’ then that’s it. ‘See how close you thought you were to us? Well, you’re nowhere near it!’
“And that would result in massive disappointment on the other side because the higher the Rangers players and fans go up, the bigger the drop when they get beat.
“If you think you are improving only to find out you’re not it’s a helluva fall. So this thing works both ways. Most people are thinking about how it will affect Celtic if they get beat.
“But it’s just as important to ask how it will affect Rangers. They are bombing along right now with their momentum going and thinking they are getting closer.
“How will they react if all of a sudden the wheels are blown off?”
And Strachan believes Rodgers will use the growing sense of belief across the city to fire up Celtic’s players into rediscovering their best form after a sustained period of coughing and spluttering at the top of the table.
He said: “I’m heavily tipping Celtic to go there and win.
“The Rangers players are up for it, or so I hear, but then we can all make noises.
“But if that really is the case then the reverberations of that will bring a reaction from the Celtic players and give them an extra edge.
“So by creating this enthusiasm, extra energy and confidence Rangers now have to face the consequence.”