NEED FOR AWAY FANS ON DERBY DAY IS NOT LOST ON McALLISTER
GARY McALLISTER faced the wrath and fire of an Ibrox Stadium packed from corner to corner with no one other than home supporters. He also saw one of the finest goals of his career greeted by an eerie, otherworldly silence, the kind only felt when in the very eye of a storm.
Bearing all that in mind, the Rangers No 2 is clearly content that Celtic have not followed through on threats to boycott Saturday’s second Old Firm clash of the season and will have a presence — albeit a vastly reduced one — in the away section between the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine Stands when hostilities commence.
Tensions between both boards have ensured there will only be around 750 away supporters in the ground for kick-off with little immediate sign of a return to the established practice of giving up an entire end and 7,000 places behind the goal.
However, McAllister believes that is better than nothing and points to what was arguably the best atmosphere of manager Steven Gerrard’s reign as proof that a more fitting backdrop to fixtures given top billing is provided when there is an audible rivalry in the air.
That tight, little corner of Ibrox was filled with green-and-white that night, too. Rapid Vienna were in town on Europa League duty and brought a vocal support, blown out of the water thanks to two late goals from James Tavernier and Alfredo Morelos that almost lifted the roof off the place.
‘I’ve been to Old Firm games at both stadiums when there were opposing fans in there,’ said McAllister. ‘I would look back to the game in Europe this year when Rapid Vienna brought however many they did into that little allocation in the corner where the away fans go — and it does make for a better atmosphere.’
There is also, of course, the salient argument that derby matches renowned for their atmosphere would be forever damaged should there be no away fans in the venue at all.
‘I suppose it’s an opinion,’ said McAllister. ‘The four or five hundred (Rangers fans) that were at Celtic Park earlier in the season, they made a lot of noise.
‘I don’t know how many Celtic fans are coming, but I’ve got to say that we’re just really focusing right now. We’ll come to that. It’s a standalone game.’
McAllister’s experience of Ibrox filled by home fans was in the second round of the Champions League in October 1992.
The game had barely started when he pinged a sensational volley from 18 yards into goalkeeper Andy Goram’s top right-hand corner — and sparked an unforgettable evening that saw Rangers battle back to win 2-1.
‘It was bizarre, because my one massive, vivid memory was the fact that, as the referee put his whistle to his mouth to start the game, I’ve never heard anything like it. Ever. In any stadium across the world,’ recalled McAllister.
‘I remember looking to Gordon Strachan, David Batty and Gary Speed, and the four of us just went: “Wow”.
‘I scored after 54 seconds, I think you might find, and then that was bizarre — because it was proper silence. It was like: “What’s happened?”.
‘That lower enclosure next to the dugouts, when I spun back there, they weren’t complimentary about that goal!’
Much has changed since the days when Rangers were just 90 minutes away from a European Cup final. Right now, they would be happy just getting within touching distance of Celtic on domestic business as the spectre of 10-In-A-Row looms.
Today’s trip to St Johnstone kicks off a huge week for Gerrard’s side with Hibs and Celtic both visiting Ibrox in quick succession. Three wins and Rangers will go into the three-week winter break top of the league table.
Just remaining in contention, though, would suit McAllister as he believes the less frenetic schedule after the January hiatus will give Gerrard and his coaching staff ample opportunity to eke more out of a squad that has endured rather a stop-start campaign so far.
‘We’d still like to have the distraction of playing in Europe and getting through to the last 32, but the fact we’re out means we can really focus,’ he said. ‘We will be able to bring everyone together and probably just go over what we did in Spain in pre-season as a nice little reminder of what we started off trying to do and maybe just repeat that.’
For all this team, subject to serious surgery in the summer, is still trying to find its feet, McAllister believes there should be no questions raised over the appetite of the players Gerrard and director of football Mark Allen brought in.
Taking their Europa League group to the wire and still being in the shake-up at the head of the Premiership is only part of it.
‘There have been times when we’ve gone down to 10 men,’ said McAllister. ‘It’s probably happened too often. We’ve also gone down to nine men. ‘There have been occasions when they’ve gone over and above. They’ve been properly emptied, proper heroic stuff. That’s what we’re seeing.
‘Others might see it differently, but, when the backs have been against the wall, people have stood up and that’s been really impressive.
‘We tip our hat to the players. There’s been a lot of change and they’ve given us everything, but we can get better.’