IT’S ALL OVER
Ugo’s wonder goal showed Celtic we were a force again .. current Gers team has to send same message with a victory at Ibrox
GRAEME MURTY and Walter Smith sit at opposite ends of the Rangers managers spectrum.
One of these men continues to cut his teeth in the job as a hired hand, promoted from the youth department as emergency cover, entrusted only to mind the till until the end of the season.
The other will go down for all time as the managerial Godfather of Ibrox having steered the club to some of its greatest triumphs over 11 years in charge.
Even if Murty does go on from here to land the job for years to come he may still never come close to the wealth of derby-day experiences Smith built up during his two stints at the helm.
But this Sunday, Smith believes Murty is about to step straight into his battered old brown brogues – 11 years to the day the former boss turned a one-sided Old Firm narrative on its head with the help of an overhead kick from Ugo Ehiogu.
As the clock ticks down towards Murty’s date with destiny, Smith said: “When you are involved in the Old Firm rivalry for any length of time eventually you will be confronted with a game like this one.
“When you haven’t won one of the games for a while there is an increased amount of pressure on you to stop that rot.
“It happened to me when I went back the second time. Rangers had not been doing particularly well and my first Old Firm game was at Celtic Park when Ehiogu won it for us with that overhead kick.
“That game gave us an opportunity to show Celtic it was time for us to be taken seriously again. It wasn’t possible for us to win the league that season but we had to show them there was going to be a bigger challenge put to Celtic the following year.
“That’s the situation Rangers will now find themselves in over the next number of games, including the three remaining Old Firm matches.”
Smith didn’t manage to overhaul Gordon Strachan’s Celtic that season. Nor was he expected to after the mess he had inherited from the beleaguered, befuddled Paul le Guen.
Come to think of it, similarities between his situation back then and Murty’s right now – as he continues to gather up the pieces left behind by the equally bewildered Pedro Caixinha – are really quite striking.
But if Murty pulls victory from the flames of Old Firm day the gap at the top will be cut to just three points, albeit with Rangers having played a game more.
If the new boy on the block can do that then even a cautious old fox such as Smith would have to concede Murty might have an outside shot of achieving something really unthinkable.
Might Rangers actually have a chance of winning this season’s title?
Smith pauses for a second to squeeze hard on his silvery chin. It is almost as if he’d rather not have to go here. But somewhat surprisingly he nods and says: “Who knows in football? You just don’t know.
“The first aim from a Rangers perspective is to prove they can match Celtic on a consistent basis. The three games that are coming up will give everybody at the club an indication of whether they’re capable of doing that or not.
“It looks to me as if they are going into this game in good spirit. But there have been parallels before – for both Rangers and Celtic teams.
“This time it’s up to Rangers to show they can catch up with Celtic. It will not be an easy task but that’s the nature of this rivalry.
“Celtic have had it their own way for a long time. But now if things are settling down at Rangers and if they are ready to put in a challenge then this is the time they’ve got to do it.
“Even if they win the game on Sunday they need to continue to show after it that they are going to keep matching Celtic all the time. But so far you have to say Murty has done a really good job of it.
“As Rangers manager, having lifted the levels of optimism, he now has to keep it going because it can all turn very quickly.”
Of course, it rankles deeply with Smith that it’s taken this long for Rangers to get into such a position. Having played a reluctant cameo role in the Banter Years he knows how far the club has fallen and the pain this collapse has caused. He recognises also the damage this period of turmoil has caused to a fixture that is so close to his heart.
He added: “The club has come through some really difficult circumstances off the park and the performance level on it over these last few years has been symptomatic of the problems encountered in the background.
“When you don’t have stability, when you are encountering major problems off the field, the first place it shows up is on the pitch.
“It’s been an extremely difficult time for everyone. But in fairness to Rangers this is the first time since all the trouble began that things appear to have settled down.
“You hope that’s going to be the case but obviously there will be
Their first aim is to prove they can match Celtic on a consistent basis WALTER SMITH
big tests still ahead and Celtic at Ibrox is one of them.
“The three Celtic games they are going to play will play a vital part in showing everyone whether Rangers are ready to step up to the plate again.
“I’m not even talking about winning the league this season although the possibility of that is now there and I don’t think many people would have envisaged that earlier in the season. That possibility is there for them now but that’s all it is – a possibility.
“Celtic have their own pride and they’ve shown that time and again. Everybody always says it’s been easy for them to go on long winning runs. They say it’s a sign the opposition is poor.
“But believe me, it takes a helluva lot of pride and professionalism to do what they did. It doesn’t matter what anyone says about the circumstances, that’s terrific management from Brendan Rodgers.
“It’s not often he’s faced a circumstance like this one where he is having to show everyone that Celtic are still the best team. And the worry for Rangers is this is likely to bring a reaction. That’s something Rangers are going to have to overcome.
“Having accomplished so much with Celtic, Rodgers is not going to allow his team to just roll over. So the challenge is firmly in Rangers’ court.
“You’ve got to hope they can rise to it – not just from a Rangers perspective but for the good of Scottish football because it will show we have a competitive league again.
“Overall it’s going to be one of the better Old Firm games in many years to look forward to.”