Rangers legend Ian Durrant fears Celtic winning nine in a row
Ian Durrant believes defeat for Rangers at Celtic Park on Saturday will serve to confirm the hosts’ view that a sixth successive championship is nailed on and the former Ibrox midfielder fears the Parkhead side could then go on to win eight or nine titles in a row, writes Ewing Grahame.
Durrant, pictured, was a key member of the Rangers side which won nine consecutive titles between 1989 and 1997 and he admits that the pressure to equal the Scottish record set by Celtic two decades earlier had been immense.
However, he believes that Brendan Rodgers’ side now “smell blood”.
“If you get a taste for it, as Celtic have now, in terms of going for six and then seven, you start looking at it,” Durrant said. “At three and four you are cagey, you’re in a comfort zone,
but once you get to five and six you do start looking at the record.
“Celtic had that for years and, if you’re a Rangers fan, you want to go on and break that record. Nobody gave us a mention until we got nine in a row. Unfortunately, we ran out of steam before we could make it ten.
“There were a few games during our run when your heart was pumping out your chest at time with the pressure. The biggest game was the nine-in-arow game itself.
“If we had been stopped before we won nine then we wouldn’t have been mentioned because we hadn’t equalled Celtic’s record. Now, I think Celtic are smelling the blood. They are looking at six; could it be seven, could it be eight?”
A home win on Saturday would leave Celtic four points clear of their city rivals with a game in hand and Durrant believes that Rodgers’ side’s dominance of the domestic game could even be extended to nine titles in a row.
A morale-sapping defeat formarkwarburton’smen thisweekendwilladdtothe doubts instilled in some supporters by the earlier draws against Hamilton Accies and Kilmarnock. It will also serve to convince Celtic that they can go on and at least match the previous record.
Durrant, speaking at a Williamhillmediaeventin Glasgow, certainly believes that is a possibility.
“Of course they can do it,” he said. “Obviously, I hope they don’t and Rangers will want to make sure they don’t.
“But Celtic will fancy their chances of doing it. They’re in a winning mentality, a winning roll, and it’s very hard to de-rail that.”