Alex McLeish shares ‘absolutely gobsmacked’ Rangers admission
Alex McLeish has predicted that some of Rangers’ summer arrivals will be “absolutely gobsmacked” when they step onto the pitch away to Celtic for the first time.
Philippe Clement’s Light Blues travel to Celtic Park on 30 December, looking to close the gap to Brendan Rodgers’ side at the top of the Scottish Premiership, however, there are concerns that the occasion could get to some of the Gers’ stars.
Rangers were beaten at Ibrox in the first meeting of the season and McLeish has said that Clement’s players will have to be mentally stronger this time as they attempt to deal with the cauldron-like atmosphere created by the home crowd.
Speaking on PLZ Soccer (20 December, 21:40) he said: “That’s exactly what it will be, a massive cauldron. Those new players at Rangers will be walking into Celtic Park absolutely gobsmacked. Hopefully, their mentality will be strong for Rangers’ sake.
“He’s started off pretty well, a couple of iffy performances over the last couple of weeks but nothing would be better for the manager than to go and win at Celtic Park. Rangers have got to be really strong not only mentally but physically as well in this game.
“This is a game that will go past in a flash, but these guys have to stand up to it and show that they are capable of dealing with this kind of game for Rangers.”
Time to stand up
Since Clement arrived in Glasgow, most of the work that he’s carried out has been in writing the wrongs of Michael Beale’s tenure and cleaning up the mess that the Englishman left at Ibrox and the clash with Celtic is just another step along that road.
It will be a shock to a lot of the Rangers players when they step out onto that turf surrounded by a sea of Celtic supporters, but they have to show the mental resilience to block out all of that background noise and manage to find a result.
Clement has completely transformed the mentality at Ibrox this season and now he needs to make his players feel 10 feet tall when they face their Glasgow rivals. They’re more than capable of beating the Hoops, they just need to demonstrate that confidence.
McLeish may expect them to be gobsmacked and they could well be when they make their way out of the tunnel, but as soon as that whistle blows attentions need to shift and the focus has to be only on the match.
In other Rangers news, Mark Guidi has offered his verdict on conversations between the Old Firm clubs over away fans