OLD FIRM COUNTDOWN
Brown and Barton braced for battle as Glasgow’s grudge match returns
NEIL LENNON and Walter Smith traded verbal blows as old wounds over the demotion of Rangers were reopened, Mo Johnston breezed in from the USA to promote his TV role and Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish held court at Hampden. Star names were centre stage in a blockbuster week-long build-up to the Old Firm semi-final in April.
Enter Joey Barton to the fray and the countdown to this one started on June 11. Hours in advance of England kicking a Euro 2016 ball. A week before the date of the first Celtic-Rangers league clash in four-and-ahalf years was announced as Saturday, September 10.
Here is a reminder of Barton’s comments on Talksport. ‘People keep talking about Joey Barton and Scott Brown. He ain’t in my league. He’s nowhere near the level I am as a player. He can’t get to me. If I play well, Scott Brown doesn’t stand a chance. That is not me being blasé. That is me stating what I believe ... if I get to that level, unfortunately for anybody up there they ain’t going to live with me.’
Next in Barton’s line of fire was Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers with those ‘tan and teeth’ and ‘midlife crisis’ remarks. All tongue-in-cheek, according to Rangers manager Mark Warburton. Certainly, they break new ground for personal comment from the playing staff of Glasgow’s two giants.
One man’s mischievous humour can be another’s classless conduct.
Barton allies suggest indulging in trash talk is one of the controversial midfielder’s methods of inspiring himself to mighty achievement because he knows he must back up every boast. If that is accurate then, based on the evidence in a Rangers jersey so far, his actions have a mountain to climb to scale the heights those words demand.
High noon on Saturday presents the opportunity for Barton to meet the targets of his radio quips face-to-face and allay the fears setting in among Rangers fans over the muted influence of their big-name summer signing during a relatively soft start and eight-point haul from Hamilton, Dundee, Motherwell and Kilmarnock.
Late to pre-season work with his new club, Barton operating in a new-look Rangers midfield featuring Jordan Rossiter and Niko Kranjcar has overseen a troubling drop in the intensity and tempo that blazed the trail to a Ladbrokes Championship title triumph and William Hill Scottish Cup Final appearance.
A veteran of Old Firm fixtures from either side of the divide, Kenny Miller admitted after the 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock that Rangers would be in trouble at Celtic Park unless that trademark zip returned.
‘It’s not about Joey Barton, far from it’ is the Warburton mantra when quizzed on the 34-year-old’s date with walking the walk at Parkhead after talking the talk. Warburton swiftly switches to discuss other members of his squad, from teenager Rossiter to experienced Kranjcar. However, Barton, by dint of his style of self-promotion, habitually plants himself at the centre of attention. That has always been part of the package, so the Ibrox manager won’t be surprised to see these distractions arrive as extra baggage on a stage far bigger than Barton was accustomed to last season at Burnley. Warburton said: ‘If I’m Joey Barton, I’m with the Championship Team of the Year and I’m very nearly the Championship Player of the Year and I’m going on to be a Premier League player, then I’d want to be coming to Scotland to be one of the best players in the country. ‘Joey won’t be at his best after four games, neither will Niko or Jordan. Jordan was away with England so he had a different pre-season. So did Joey. You can see Niko coming on these last two games, fitness levels improving.
‘If I was Jordan, playing in the first team at Liverpool, England Under-19 captain, I’d want to come and make an impression. Niko will want to come and do it. But an individual won’t win us titles or trophies. It’s about the team.’
Barton has not been slow to spout his views through his favoured online platform.
Nor has he stinted behind the scenes with his team-mates who have heard plenty from what his former Burnley team-mate Andre Gray describes as ‘a harsh tongue’.
‘It’s not hard to manage, not at all,’ argued Warburton. ‘You can play it really safe and say: “I tell you what, I’ll just go for him, I know him, I’ve had him 12 years and he never says a word”. But Jordan will give you his opinion too, it will be equally as strong. Jordan knows he’s got no problem going into this game. Niko will openly tell you he can’t wait to play Celtic. Give me the football. Let me show you how good I can be.
‘So it’s just how they express their viewpoint. There’s no lack of confidence in individuals within the squad. They speak their mind. We want players to have that but we want to make sure they do it in a respectful manner.’
Were Barton so humble as to do his homework like Andy Halliday before his maiden Old Firm outing, it would not go amiss. The lifelong Rangers fan reached out to a host of ex-players
for advice about preparing for the emotional challenges presented by the game.
He even received guidance by text from a former Celtic captain, Stephen McManus, who was his team-mate at Middlesbrough and recognised how much the occasion would mean to him
Halliday went on to draw a stare-down in the handshakes with Brown, then win a shoot-out after 120 minutes of pulsating derby action.
Brown called time on his season two weeks later and rested up away from Scotland service in the summer.
He returned refreshed and invigorated by the Rodgers regime, quitting international football and producing one of his most memorable displays in years to drag Celtic through their Champions League play-off against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, scoring in a 5-2 home success
Brown appears in the mood to relish an early clash with Rangers. He responded to opening fire by explaining he expected to get on well with his new rival because Barton was ‘a Celtic fan’, referring to a post made by the Scouser several years ago.
Furthermore, he revels in an Old Firm spat as El Hadji Diouf (above) is able to attest.
Rodgers expects his 31-year-old skipper to
‘REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE NOT BEING ASKED TO DO ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY. JUST PLAY YOUR GAME’
be entirely unflustered by Barton’s close-season attempts at getting personal once the frenzied action begins at Celtic Park. ‘This is all part of the noise that happens around these type of games,’ said Rodgers. ‘We’ll do what we always do, just come in and do our work. ‘I know what the game means to us in terms of our objectives for the season. It’s important you can stay calm amid what’s written, what’s said. ‘We will focus on our job and be the calm one on the ball and just play. ‘Scotty’s experienced enough now. These games are super-competitive, that’s what you want. There is that level of competition that you want. But sometimes there’s a wee bit of a myth around the big players always producing in the big games. ‘You’re not being asked to do anything extraordinary — just play your game. Just play the game. ‘There’s no more pressure or less pressure on one player than there is on another. It’s how you cope with it that’s important. Scotty copes with it really well. And how do I know that? Because when I ask him to do certain detailed things in the game, he does it to the very letter. That tells me he’s a thinking player. ‘I’ve been super-impressed by him in lots of ways — fitness, tactical ideas, quality and resilience. Everyone can see he’s at a really good level, as lean as he’s ever been.’ So who will enjoy what could prove to be very vocal bragging rights just before two o’clock on Saturday? Barton treated his army of followers on social media to the big news that, for his birthday on Friday, he’d received a coffee-maker. A variation on waking up and smelling some of the machine’s produce might be the message Brown hopes to deliver at the end of this riveting renewal of Old Firm hostilities.