Alan Pattullo and Mark Atkinson discuss the upcoming Celtic v Rangers Old Firm clash.
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00:00 Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman Football Show. My name is Mark Atkinson,
00:10 Sports Editor and today I'm joined by our Chief Football Writer, Alan Petullo. We're
00:15 going to be talking about the Old Firm game between Celtic and Rangers this weekend. A
00:21 game that in all likelihood will define the destination of the title and the premiership.
00:28 Alan, we're both going to be there. How much are you looking forward to the next Old Firm
00:32 game?
00:33 Well, no, absolutely. Very much so. We've been blessed with some good ones this season.
00:42 I think obviously the last one just a few weeks ago at Ibrox was I think reckoned to
00:47 be a recent classic. Both sides sharing six goals. It would be so different today if events
01:00 had been different that afternoon at Ibrox. Obviously if Rangers had managed to get the
01:04 win or alternatively Celtic had got the win, you'd think it would be pretty much done and
01:10 dusted but if Celtic had won, certainly. But here we are going into a game at Parkhead
01:17 and I think Celtic will be the ones feeling a bit more relaxed. Rangers obviously have
01:21 to go to the other side of town and really they do have to win I think. I read something
01:27 this morning, somebody was suggesting a draw wouldn't be a disaster but you just feel Rangers
01:33 tomorrow really have to go and get that win. In a partisan atmosphere like it will be at
01:38 Parkhead, 60,000 home fans, it really will be some achievement if they manage to pull
01:43 off a victory at a ground where they've not got a great record obviously in recent times.
01:48 I was reading again, I think it's the last 17 trips to Parkhead, Rangers have won just
01:54 twice. So, yeah, odds are certainly stacked against them. Reading about this Walter Smith
02:02 statue that rightly is going to be unveiled prior to the Scottish Cup final in a couple
02:07 of weeks' time outside Ibrox, you think if Clement manages to pull off a victory here
02:12 tomorrow they might be pitching up something similar to him in time to come because it
02:16 really will be quite an extraordinary achievement to win at Parkhead. Little I saw Ibrox last
02:22 Sunday as Rangers struggled slightly to get by Tenman Kilmarnock, Little I saw that afternoon
02:30 suggested that they are in a position to go to Parkhead and win but we shall see.
02:34 Indeed, indeed. Let's just set the scene then. Celtic are three points clear with three games
02:39 to go and they have a superior goal difference and that's why it's imperative that Rangers
02:46 win. It's interesting how the narratives flipped Alan because when we were building up to the
02:50 last Old Firm game at Ibrox in April, it was all about how Rangers had the destination
02:56 of the title in their hands and actually Celtic taking a point from Ibrox was deemed as a
03:03 very good outcome for them as they tried to claw their way back into pole position. The
03:09 two games that really damaged Rangers came up in Dingwall against Ross County and then
03:15 a couple of days later at Denz Parkhead. You were at both of those games. What was it that
03:21 you saw from Rangers then that had changed from previous games? Had they essentially
03:26 run out of steam or has there been a change in the way that they've played under Clement
03:32 or is it essentially just the fact that Celtic have improved sufficiently from a poor winter
03:37 by their own?
03:38 Both of those are true. It's hard for a football team to win every game. Clement has talked
03:46 about that on a few occasions when I've seen him this season. They really just came adrift
03:54 in Dingwall that extraordinary afternoon last month. You're right, they did go there thinking
04:04 they seem to have the initiative, didn't they? They went to Dingwall and a win that afternoon
04:09 against Ross County, against a relegation-threatened Ross County, would have set them up for an
04:17 interesting end to the season. Part of me thought, I just thought, you've got to give
04:23 credit to Ross County that afternoon because I thought they were superb. Rangers seemed
04:26 slightly taken aback by the way that Ross County went toe-to-toe with them in Dingwall.
04:35 I think Ross County were deserving winners that afternoon. Rangers had the usual...Desser
04:42 is becoming an interesting topic. Cyril Desser has scored a reasonable number of goals but
04:47 he's also missed several chances, which might have changed the afternoon against Ross County
04:56 in Dingwall, for example. He had a poor night against Dundee at Dense Park. I think Clement,
05:04 after the game in Dingwall, certainly bemoaned the fact that his side were the better side
05:08 and they had the chances to win. He said that obviously against Dundee at Dense Park. He
05:15 thought his side had the better chances, which they possibly did that evening. They just
05:19 haven't proved clinical enough, I don't think. Celtic, I just think, to me, have a bit more
05:23 firepower. Kiyoko has not perhaps had the kind of season that was anticipated in terms
05:32 of goals but he's still in ever-present danger. I just think back to the first Old Firm derby
05:39 at Ibrox. He just had one half chance and he stuck away superbly to silence Ibrox. Again,
05:49 that surreal atmosphere that there is when an away team scores at a ground where there
05:53 are no away fans. I just remember thinking it was scored just in front of me that afternoon
06:00 and looking around expecting a linesman's flag or something to go up. It was just such
06:04 an eerie silence. That's just what Kiyoko can do and I think having him on the side
06:10 tomorrow, that could be the difference. I think Deceausperhs perhaps needs two, three,
06:17 four chances to score. Kiyoko, give him one chance and there's a good chance he'll put
06:21 it away.
06:22 He certainly is a big game player and a player that has proved a difficult opponent for Rangers.
06:29 It's not even going to be a full-strength Rangers back line that comes up against Kiyoko
06:34 and company because Connor Goldson is injured and reports this morning are suggesting that
06:41 Leon Baligan's back injury will not heal in time which means that John Souter, who has
06:45 played a lot this season, or a lot this year anyway, will be partnered by Ben Davies, the
06:50 complete opposite, who has barely featured for Rangers. That's a real test of a makeshift
06:56 and hardly watertight Rangers back line.
07:00 Yes, absolutely. You have to address that issue. Whatever happens tomorrow, obviously
07:05 Rangers have got these injury problems. Celtic have had them themselves this season. It's
07:11 just a part and parcel of football. It did put the contrasting situations into some stark
07:19 light that Rangers this week have been pinning their hopes on the fact a 35-year-old defender
07:26 might be fit. As you say, suggestions are that he has lost that battle to play Leon
07:31 Baligan.
07:32 That just sums it up. Baligan wasn't really in the thinking of either manager, even Michael
07:41 Beale at the start of the season, really wasn't in the squad in terms of the first 11. Here
07:47 he is. We're thinking he feels quite important now, quite central to Rangers' hopes of winning
07:52 tomorrow. It does look like he's failed that battle. Ben Davies comes in. I've always quite
07:59 liked Ben Davies when I've seen him. He came on at half-time last week against Cormoranick,
08:04 did a reasonable job, obviously scored his first goal for the club. I think he'll cope
08:14 tomorrow if he does play next to John Suter. But again, is that just that extra uncertainty
08:21 perhaps in the minds of the Rangers fans, in the minds of the Rangers teammates, thinking
08:25 how will Davies cope with what will likely be an onslaught in the first 20-25 minutes
08:32 at Parc Edicel to try and get that opening goal? Will somebody who's played so little
08:37 football this year, will he be able to cope? It's extraordinary, isn't it? I think he's
08:42 not played since the end of last year when he came on against Cormoranick. He hadn't
08:46 started a game since November, I think. Here he is being dropped into one of the biggest
08:54 matches in recent memory, biggest Old Firm match in recent memory.
08:57 It is a big Old Firm match because there's a sell-out stadium, press box is going to
09:03 be packed, there's journalists from all over the world coming over to watch this game.
09:07 It's not just about what happens with the 22 players, it's also about what happens in
09:12 the dugout because this week we've had a little bit of a war of words between Celtic manager
09:18 Brendan Rodgers and his Rangers counterpart Philippe Clement. I personally always welcome
09:23 such entertainment ahead of big games. Some of the best managers in the world have done
09:28 it, Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger always springs to mind. This is a huge match for both of
09:34 these managers and you wrote a piece this morning about Brendan Rodgers' Alan which
09:39 I think chimes with what a lot of people are thinking right now, that this Celtic manager
09:43 who was embattled a couple of weeks ago and certainly a couple of months ago, now has
09:48 the chance to land a significant blow on Clement who has been the flavour of the month for
09:53 quite some time. Rodgers has the opportunity to solidify himself as top dog in Glasgow,
10:01 once again a position that he's held for pretty much all of his time when a Celtic manager.
10:07 How do you view Rodgers right now? Do you see a man whose confidence is back up, who
10:12 believes that his team are going to go and win the title now?
10:15 Yeah, well everything he's been saying this week smacks of a man who's enjoying the run
10:21 up to this game, isn't he? As I think I said this morning, he's a Mr Laid-back from Lennoxtown.
10:26 He's been enjoying training in the sunshine today in Lennoxtown and I think his fitness
10:33 problems, Celtic have, have alleviated. He's got a full squad to pick from, Callum McGregor's
10:40 back firing. Yeah, I think he's going to be feeling pretty calm about things and relishing
10:50 the fact that he could land a knockout blow on Rangers tomorrow in terms of the league
10:55 title. Perhaps also, as I said, slightly tickled possibly the fact that he's not been mentioned
11:03 in any of the managerial awards, nominees that have been released in the last couple
11:09 of weeks. PFA Scotland won and the Scottish Football Writers won and so I think he'll
11:13 quite like just sort of reminding people of his credentials and what he can do. But it
11:19 is extraordinary. We're sitting here and in two weeks' time, in two weeks' time we'll
11:25 be previewing a Scottish Cup final and who knows, you know, we could be talking about
11:30 Clement going for a treble, a landmark treble in his first season. So it's fascinating.
11:38 So much rests on these next two weeks, so much in terms of the, perhaps the reputations
11:43 of both these managers and rest on what happens in the next couple of weeks in a couple of
11:48 huge, huge matches. So yeah, you can't really ask for much more than this at the end of
11:55 the season.
11:56 Agreed. We've not had a denouement to a campaign like this for quite some time. It's at this
12:05 point where sometimes you feel predictions can be a little bit folly given that the season's
12:09 been topsy-turvy. Everybody that I've spoken to, Alan, thinks that the best Rangers can
12:15 get on Saturday is a point which, in all honesty, would probably not be enough for them. Do
12:22 you think Rangers can go there and win or do you agree with the majority that this derby
12:28 very much swings in the favour of Celtic?
12:31 I think so. It sounds a bit boring but I just wrote it last week after the Kamanic game,
12:37 Rangers-Kamanic, that the chance of Rangers going to Parkhead right now seem remote and
12:46 winning seem remote. So I still believe that. I've seen Rangers, as I say, struggle in doing
12:52 well, struggle at Den's Park. Even last Sunday, a 4-1 win in the end. It was a curious game,
13:00 obviously a strange VAR-affected game, but they didn't look like they were firing all
13:07 cylinders. I just think the season is in danger of frittering away slightly for them. So I
13:15 think Celtic will have enough to win tomorrow, 60,000 fans behind them. It's going to be
13:22 a... If Rangers win, absolutely hats off to them because that would be one of the more
13:26 remarkable results in recent times, I think. But as it stands, I think Celtic will win.
13:31 I think I'll go for 2-1 Celtic.
13:33 Perfect, Alan. Well, you're going to be there on Saturday, 12.30 kick-off, and we'll have
13:39 all the preview material in the Scotsman and on the website and then lots of analysis,
13:46 reaction from the game itself. Alan, thank you very much for joining me. I know you're
13:50 heading across the NBA now to go and speak to Philippe Clement, and all of that will
13:55 be in the Scotsman over the next 24 hours. From myself and Alan, it's goodbye and thank
14:01 you for joining us.
14:03 (liquid pouring)