Together with his ultimate Previous Agency sport looming into view, legendary Rangers supervisor Walter Smith admitted he was “delighted” to be leaving the Glasgow derby firepit.
It was 2011, coming at a time when retirement was on the horizon and when off-field issues have been dominating the headlines. The latter emphasising his need to name it a day.
It’s unlikely Smith’s former captain Barry Ferguson will need Sunday to be his final style of a fixture which means all the things in Glasgow however counts for little on this event.
Celtic’s newest title success, their thirteenth in 14 seasons, has left a bitter style in Ferguson’s mouth because the interim head coach prepares for what could also be his ultimate sport towards the champions, with the Ibrox membership’s incoming paymasters anticipated to make sweeping adjustments.
As a former Rangers skipper, Ferguson is aware of the fixture inside out, having made his derby debut within the midfield boiler room alongside Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Jorg Albertz in 1998. He is aware of what wins over their neighbours can do in terms of longevity within the submit.
However, regardless of ending an nearly five-year watch for a victory at Celtic Park the final time they locked horns, Ferguson’s brief stint within the hotseat seems to be to be coming to an finish with inauspicious outcomes elsewhere and an lack of ability to win at residence.
Placing it as much as Celtic has not been Rangers’ downside in latest months.
They’ve gained the previous two derbies and have been a penalty shootout away from profitable the League Cup towards Brendan Rodgers’ aspect in December.
They’ve scored three objectives in three successive video games towards their outdated rivals for the primary time since 2002 and are chasing a 3rd straight win over them in the identical season for the primary time since 1996-97.
And but it looks like Rangers are as far behind Celtic as they’ve ever been.
Targets have rained in on them and factors have been shed towards the opposite Premiership sides with staggering regularity.
Rangers have solely scored as soon as of their earlier six video games at Ibrox and equally staggering is the actual fact they’ve conceded at the least twice in 11 of their previous 13 general.
