Barry Ferguson's telling Rangers clue shows he's worried about Celtic clash

Barry Ferguson knows how tough Rangers will have it at Celtic Park this afternoon.

The interim head coach has already dropped a clue to point to some nerves before he takes his side out onto the pitch for the Glasgow derby at Parkhead.

Celtic hold a significant 16 point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership and, fingers crossed, that will move further to 19 points come the end of the game if all things go as expected in front of a packed stadium of optimistic home fans.

Brendan Rodgers’ record vs Rangers is enough for Celtic fans to be excited about when the 12.30pm kick-off time rolls around. The Irishman has every right to be confident.

For his counterpart on the sidelines, though, he has already dropped a really telling clue to suggest he is a bit nervous as to how the derby is going to go.

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Barry Ferguson’s plan to change Rangers tactics vs Celtic is telling

Ferguson was asked about how long it has been since Rangers got a result at Celtic Park and the 47-year-old acknowledged how tough it is there to play football as a visiting side.

But it was his next line in his media conference that was the important element as he suggested he already knows his first tactical plan on the day might not be good enough to beat Celtic with.

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“It’s a tough place to go and get a result,” he said. “We’ll have a way of approaching the game that I think can get us a result.

“If that approach is not working, then we can change it within the game as well. That’s important to me. I’ve mentioned a number of times, we’ve not been flexible enough as a team. Now we’re starting to get that because we’ve had a wee bit of time on the grass.

“I look forward to Sunday. We’ll go and play a certain way that I and my staff believe can get the right result. We’ll take it from there.”

Celtic Park will have Rangers fans in attendance after lockout

Arne Engels was sadly hit by a missile in the last outing between the two sides at Ibrox, which proved that the derby hostility is still alive and going.

But at Celtic Park, the home fans certainly conduct themselves with more respect than that.

Still, there will be away fans in the ground after an agreement to end the lockout was struck between Glasgow’s big two. For Ferguson he hopes the Gers punters in attendance can roar their team to a result.

“First and foremost, I’m delighted fans are back. In terms of trouble off it, it doesn’t concern me. I’m sure the fans will come and support us. The 2,500 fans will come and demand a performance from us.

“In terms of trouble, it doesn’t concern me. I know what our fans are like. They’ll come and get right behind us. I’m just happy that there’s a bit of change now. Hopefully, going forward, maybe in the future, we can start to see a bit more coming back.”

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