David Tanner catches up with Mark Warburton ahead of Rangers' Ibrox date with Celtic
Saturday 31 December 2016 10:54, UK
The third Old Firm derby takes place on Saturday when Rangers welcome Celtic to Ibrox for the first time this season and Sky Sports' David Tanner caught up with Gers boss Mark Warburton for his thoughts on the crunch clash.
DT: What adjectives would you use to describe the Old Firm game?
MW: I'm staggered by the games, the sense of occasion and the importance attached to them. When I was with my old club, my son showed me a YouTube video of Rangers 3 Celtic 2; it's entitled "Penny Arcade" and it shows eight minutes of the build up to the last Old Firm game [at Ibrox Stadium]. I was sold!
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To be involved in a fixture of this significance and with this passion is truly a privilege. Words like emotional, important, significant, intensity, excitement, all those words. It's a privilege to be involved in it.
DT: You have played two Old Firm games at Hampden Park, one at Celtic and this is your first at Ibrox. Do you think that home advantage will help narrow the gap on the day?
MW: No. Our players relish playing for the club. The atmosphere at Ibrox has been tremendous over the last three games. We want to defend our home patch but home and away we always sell every ticket and that gives the players a level of responsibility that I want them to enjoy.
DT: Brendan Rodgers has said that the pressure is all on you - can you argue with that?
MW: When you play at Rangers, every game is a pressure game with the level of support we have - the last three games at Ibrox have been sold out and a fourth is coming up. When you put a blue jersey on, there is pressure so that is nothing new to us.
DT: Are the fans owed one after the way the roof caved-in at Celtic Park?
MW: I'm not having that about the roof caving in - I bit my tongue about some of the comments made.
DT: It was five goals, though, it's an historic defeat…
MW: Yes, at 3-1 I saw some of the comments which I totally disagree with but you bite your tongue and see where you end up at the end of the season. Our fans always deserve everything they receive because of the backing they give. We recognise the emotional significance of this game and give the performance that gets a result that sends them home happy.
DT: Looking back on it did you have enough legs in the team in September? Is this a fixture that really needs that?
MW: Hindsight is a marvellous thing. On the day, we did what we did for what we thought were the right reasons. Energy, legs, squeezing play, moving the ball quickly: all these attributes and aspects which we hopefully show week in week out, we have to show a level of performance to secure the right result.
We know we face a well-organised team, packed with internationals - we are well aware of that - they have had a very good season to date and all credit it them for that. I'm constantly reminded about the gap between the two teams but don't forget that its Celtic's best start to a season in 15-20 years - 2003, I think.
They have had a fantastic start but our focus is Rangers, being highly competitive and making sure the supporters see progress. If we can do all that at the end of the season, we'll be alright.
DT: Has the gap narrowed since the last Old Firm games?
MW: The reality of the situation is that there is a very evident financial disparity between the two clubs, Champions League football etc is a huge difference. What we have to is focus on Rangers and so we can't put envious eyes across the city.
The job is putting Rangers back to the top of Scottish football and what is key is that we do it in a structured manner. We can't spend money we haven't got and we can't buy our way out of trouble - that's not a complaint or a moan, it's reality. It's important to be honest about the situation. We know a big financial disparity exists and we have to close it in as short a time as possible.
DT: Are Celtic invincible in Scotland?
MW: No. They have a very good squad and team. All credit to them for a magnificent start to the season. We'll focus on Rangers and progressing.
DT: But do you believe that Celtic are beatable?
MW: Absolutely. There will be tough games, Brendan, I'm sure, will be first to say that there are tough, tight fixtures, some 1-0s and 2-1s and late goals. Of course, they are a good team, packed with international players but now we are good, too, and we are at home with fantastic home record and we are keen to preserve that.
DT: Can you go toe-to-toe with Celtic with your current players and beat them by playing the way you like to play, open and expansive?
MW: Of course, we can. We have to be very good. At the top of our game and move the ball with quality and consistency, we have to be dynamic in our movement and rave with what we do with the ball. If we do that we are a very good team, I have no doubts about that. The quality is evident, the young players are getting better, the senior pros have been outstanding so, yes, we are looking forward to a tough fixture.
DT: It's been a dynamic December for Rangers, Andy Halliday said this week that there has been a "different dimension" to the play. What does he mean by that?
MW: We are just learning. We lost away to Hearts and we had a poor performance, a bad day at the office and we put our hands up to that. No excuses. We turned that negative into a positive. That was a team that pressed onto us and we couldn't find a solution at Tynecastle on the night.
Very quickly, Aberdeen did the same thing and we found ways to beat them and Hearts then did the same thing and we were strong comprehensive winners on the day at Ibrox. So we are finding solutions to the questions that teams will pose against us. We want to dominate the football, teams will want to stop us doing that and that the nature of the game and that's why I love the game. We are finding answers to problems.
