‘Crazy’ side of derby day not a worry for Waghorn
AS a son of South Shields, Martyn Waghorn’s immersion in an intense footballing rivalry was never really a matter of choice.
Born in the coastal town which sits five miles east of Newcastle and eight miles north of Sunderland, he showed a nose for diplomacy early on in life by declaring an allegiance for Manchester United.
As a means of insulating oneself from the often bitter battle for supremacy between Tyneside and Wearside, it was a decent effort. But the years spent as a trainee then a first-team player at the Stadium of Light tended to blow his cover.
Despite never eyeballing Newcastle in Sunderland’s colours, Waghorn’s upbringing left him in no doubt as to what the fixture meant to those involved.
You might have thought then, that life in Glasgow — as a Rangers player — would have held no fears for him.
Even for a seasoned pro like him, though, the city of the stare, as the late William McIlvanney succinctly put it, occasionally has the capacity to unnerve him.
‘It’s on a different level,’ said the 26-year-old. ‘But it’s Rangers and win, lose or draw against any opposition you’re scrutinised and it’s part and parcel of playing for a huge club.
‘I’ve got used to it, I’ve learned how to deal with it and we have as a group as well.’
The late Tommy Burns once said that, as Celtic manager, one half of the city felt it owned you while the other half hated you.
Truthfully, on both halves of the divide, the vast majority stand their distance and maintain a common decency. Occasionally, however, the line of acceptability is crossed. One, in Waghorn’s view, that sets Glasgow aside from other hotbeds.
The date, he remembers well. Sunday, September 11 — the day after Rangers suffered a 5-1 mauling at Celtic Park. A meander through the leafy streets and into his local park was designed to clear his head yet provided the harshest of reminders about what lurks beneath the surface. ‘After the previous game, Celtic fans were coming up and having a pop,’ he recalled.
‘(It was) mostly people in the street or when I was in the park with my little boy — he’s coming up four.
‘I just think there’s a time and a place for it. I’m on my day off — I’m with my family. But that’s football.
‘It’s one of those things. You’ve got to deal with it and if you react to it then they’ve won, haven’t they? I just laughed it off. It’s crazy.’
Asked if he had experienced anything like that during his time in the North East, Waghorn replied: ‘Not really, no.’
Waghorn is the antithesis of the kind of individual who would be unable to resist in such a situation. Mouthing off or going eyeball to eyeball is just not his style. In such circumstances, a shrug of the shoulders and a hasty retreat is his default setting.
Even if he had been of a mind to bite back on that occasion with his son, his verbal arsenal was empty. Mark Warburton’s contention that the 5-1 scoreline was harsh on his side may have had a grain of veracity, but the fact his side were second best to Celtic in all departments is beyond dispute. ‘We gave them more time than we should have — we were not in their faces and pressing them,’ added Waghorn. ‘Maybe that was (to do with the number of) new faces, but it could have been a number of things. Don’t forget they scored some good goals, too, and obviously it affects you as well.’ In the aftermath, Warburton’s view that — despite the four-goal margin of defeat — there was no gulf between the sides inevitably saw him subjected to widespread ridicule. Waghorn gets that making such points at such a time is the equivalent of putting your head in the stocks and handing out rotten tomatoes to the public. But he contends that essentially his manager had a point. ‘No, I don’t think there is (a gulf),’ stated Waghorn. ‘We’ve come up last year with a great record and we were a bit slow to start off, but the difference isn’t too big. ‘We showed that last season. It was one game, decisions went against us, we had a man sent off and it’s difficult to recover from that. It was a bad day for us but we’re on the right track. We’re getting going and moving forward and it starts this weekend.’ At Hampden six months ago, Rangers’ victory on penalties over Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final gave the impression that Warburton’s rebuilding task was nearing completion. The reality was it lent a false impression.
Not only have Celtic reasserted themselves in the interim period under Brendan Rodgers, Rangers have looked short of a side capable of winning the Premiership.
But Waghorn, who watched injured from the stand back in April, believes Warburton’s recalibrated squad would do well to note the key performance indicators that were ticked that day.
Irrespective of where Rangers finish in the Premiership come May, a performance on the same level with that famous victory would surely give them every chance of repeating the trick — at least on a one-off basis.
‘It was the intensity of our play,’ recalled Waghorn. ‘We were brave on the ball and played out from the back. I don’t think Celtic were ready.
‘At Parkhead, the tempo was down for a number of reasons — it just wasn’t us.
‘We’ve learned to play high energy and tempo — that’s what Rangers are about, that’s what the gaffer has instilled in us and we learned a lot about ourselves that day.’
Warburton’s approach to the game is so single-minded you wonder if his players might train with blinkers on.
His philosophy — that Plan B is to do Plan A better — brings admiration from some but accusations of naivety from others.
However, it’s clear that, under the Englishman, Rangers’ style of play will bend a knee to no-one.
‘We won’t change for anyone,’ stressed Waghorn. ‘The manager has a framework he likes and we stick by it.
‘As players we stick by it, too. We know what we’re doing and how we want to play. It’s important the new players know how we press from the front and that the defence presses high.
‘It’s important we’re on the same page because when we limit chances and pass forward in between the lines we are a threat.’