The Old Firm playing in an empty stadium is a no-no for ex-Ger Durrant
The prospect of the next Old Firm game being played behind closed doors leaves Ian Durrant cold.
The next meeting of the country’s two leading clubs could be fought out at a ghostly Celtic Park, and for the former Rangers midfielder, that would take away much of the fixture’s X factor.
“Having an Old Firm game with no fans would be a shame,” said the 53-year-old, newly-appointed assistant manager to Stevie Aitken with East Kilbride in the Lowland League.
“I’ve played in the Old Firm derbies and the atmosphere is second to none.
“Now, like everyone else, I’ve been watching the Bundesliga games on TV and it feels as though some of them are training games.
“Without fans, I don’t think football will be anything near what it can be.
“Is the quality going to be any good? Is that pressure on people to perform now that there’s not 20,000, 40,000, 60,000 fans watching you?”
Ally McCoist sparked controversy with comments about Celtic having won a title with an asterisk, but as far as his former team-mate is concerned, it is time to move on.
“Celtic were given the league. They voted and gave them the league. They are champions. Simple as,” he said.
“You would have loved to have seen the league played out, but we weren’t given the opportunity.”
Missed opportunity is something Durrant knows all about, having been part of the Rangers team which failed to win 10-in-arow in 1997-98.
He recalled: “Over the season we had injuries, lost our top goalscorer (Marco Negri), Paul Gascoigne got sold, Brian Laudrup had agreed a deal to go to Chelsea, and, in the end, we just lost too many games.
“The consistency level we’d had for the previous nine years just wasn’t there.
“This year the pressure will be on. Lose the first derby – and chaos!
“The pressure can spur you on, or it can kill you.”
Stuart McCall was also part of Walter Smith’s squad that matched Jock Stein’s record of nine-successive titles, but failed to beat it.
“I remember feeling under more pressure to equal their nine-in-a-row record than I did to make it 10,” he said.
“The players Steven Gerrard brings to the club this summer need to be capable of handling everything which will come their way.
“Spending millions on a player doesn’t guarantee that he’s going to be the answer.
“In fact, free transfers could be – provided your scouting and background checks are all done properly.
“There will be a lot of free agents looking for a club this summer, and not as much money circulating in the game as there used to be.
“What Steven will be looking for is players with character, men who can be leaders and who’ll be able to cope with the demands of playing for Rangers next season.
“When he was appointed as manager, he was essentially given three years to build a team which was capable of stopping Celtic from making it to 10.
“Last year was huge for him, but this one is going to be massive.
“He earned respect by bringing European football to Ibrox after Christmas for the first time since 2008, but he knows his job will be on the line if Celtic land another clean sweep of silverware.
“Alfredo Morelos was scoring for fun until December, and then he didn’t look like the same player afterwards. In fact, the whole team collapsed after the New Year.
“At least that won’t happen after the winter break next season because there won’t be one!
“Steven will have spent hours, days and weeks trying to dissect why and where that all went wrong.
“Can they not handle the pressure? “Rangers did well in Europe and against Celtic, so the players, even though they’ve had disappointments, can take some positives from that.
“But, as I say, his recruitment has to be right.
“When you spend £7million on a player in Scotland, then he needs to be a game-changer.
“But Ryan Kent didn’t do that often enough last season after signing from Liverpool.
“Hopefully, he’ll be better for that experience and he’ll show what he can really do when we get back to playing games.”