Barry Ferguson is destroying the narrative that this Sunday’s derby between Celtic and Rangers is meaningless.
With nothing on the line in terms of trophies and both sides out of the Scottish Cup, the 2020/21 is effectively over for both sides of the Glasgow divide.
This weekend’s match could easily be perceived to be a so-called dead rubber.
However, Ferguson has urged his team to bounce back from their defeat vs St Johnstone, or risk having a dark cloud hanging over them for months.
Writing in his Daily Record column today, he said: “You’ve worked too hard, given too much and performed too well to allow this campaign to end under a big black cloud. You deserve to go into the summer on a high after what you’ve achieved in securing title No.55. Make sure you go out with the bang you deserve.
“Trust me on this, if Rangers let their unbeaten league season slip against the noisy neighbours, then these players will have to carry it all the way through the close season.
“Don’t tell me this game is nothing more than a dead rubber. In this part of the world there is no such thing.”
Citing what the derby meant to him as a player, Ferguson would continue: “It was all about the next 90 minutes and making sure I didn’t come off that pitch on a downer having just taken a big boot in the sore ones.
“And these Rangers players could be feeling that pain in the pit of their stomachs for the next few months if they let their standards slip on Sunday. A defeat will take some of the shine off what they’ve achieved.”
There you go then, Celtic. If the Bhoys needed more motivation to stick one to Rangers, that’s plenty.
One of their legends reckons it could be a damaging defeat to their psyche heading into next season. If someone like Ferguson is ascribing stakes like that to this match, who am I to argue?
The home side will remain favourites for the Sunday encounter. That’s just natural given results over the last couple of years. Celtic haven’t laid a finger on them since 2019.
Despite performances improving, we haven’t found a way to cope with the pressure and step up in crucial moments. With a little less riding on this weekend’s game than normal, could that help our players?
I do agree with Ferguson in one respect, I don’t believe these derbies are ever completely meaningless. I’m expecting Celtic to show that passion in their derby display win, lose or draw on Sunday.
In other news, James Forrest return could result in Celtic formation change for Sunday derby.
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