Barry Ferguson has encouraged his players to embrace the hostile environment at Celtic Park as he looks forward to his competitive return to the home of his club’s rivals.
Ferguson is unfazed about the reception that awaits on Sunday when he turns up at Parkhead for his fifth game as interim head coach of Rangers.
“It’s a place I always liked to go and play,” the 47-year-old said. “It’s hostile. They’re the sort of environments I like to go to.
“I want my players to go and embrace these stadiums. But I’m sure I’ll get a nice reception when I’m standing at the touchline.
“I’ll need to focus on making sure my team go with the game plan that we’re thinking about. And if we carry that out, we’ve got a right good chance of getting the three points.”
The former Ibrox captain was one of the few Rangers fans at Celtic Park in September when he sat in the directors’ box in his role as club ambassador.
The surroundings did not spare him from the taunts of Celtic fans during a 3-0 defeat for his side, but he accepts the hostility is a significant part of the attraction of the fixture.
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I honestly don’t mind. Sometimes it crosses the line a wee bit, which disappoints me. But that’s part of being in the west of Scotland. I know I took a wee bit, but it was fine.
“I knew what I was coming into. I think it will be a bit worse than when I was sitting in the directors’ box. But I’m looking forward to it. These are the games you want to play in. These are the games you should look forward to.”
Ferguson enjoyed some memorable wins at Celtic Park during his playing career, but they have been few and far between for his club in recent years. Rangers have not won at Parkhead since their title-winning season in October 2020.
“It is too long,” he said. “It’s a tough place to go and get a result, but we’ll have a way 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 believe, me and my staff believe, can get the right result.”
The odds are further stacked against Rangers because they played 120 minutes against Fenerbahce on Thursday night before going through to the Europa League quarter-finals on penalties.
But Ferguson has made his players well aware they are expected to brush off those exertions.
“In terms of us going 120 minutes, I’m not going to go into Sunday and use that as an excuse,” he said.