Ewing Grahame: 'Footballing graveyard' awaits the weakest links

Published on Saturday 23 October 2010 13:23

Tosh McKinlay believes that Old Firm encounters shape careers, especially for those making their first appearance in the Glasgow cauldron.

However, for every Chris Sutton (who scored the first of two goals after only 53 seconds of Celtic's 6-2 victory in August, 2000) or Derek Johnstone (who, at 17, headed the winner in the 1970 League Cup final to give Rangers their first trophy for five seasons) there are those unfortunates who crumple under the pressure and never recover.

Former Celtic and Scotland full-back McKinlay knows that first impressions are vital in the Glasgow derby and that those who have been found wanting end up "in football's graveyard".

Celtic could hand eight players - Fraser Forster, Cha Du-Ri, Emilio Izaguirre, Daniel Majstorovic, Efrain Juarez, Joe Ledley, Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes - a first taste of today's fixture.

Rangers have the edge in experience, with only Vladimir Weiss and, possibly, Ricky Foster new to the cauldron.

McKinlay (whose first derby was a 1-1 draw at Ibrox in January, 1995) will be watching with interest to see who sinks… and who swims.

"There are a lot of players in football's graveyard because of this fixture," he said. "I also believe it's impossible to explain what it's like to players - and Celtic have a lot of them this weekend - who haven't even been to an Old Firm game, never mind played in one.

"I was at the Everton-Liverpool game last Sunday and it can't hold a candle to Celtic against Rangers in terms of the intensity of the atmosphere.

"All the glory is there for the forwards because they can score the goals that win it, and if they have an off-day they'll rarely get the blame for that.

"For a defender or a goalkeeper, though, if you make one slip that costs the game you'll always be remembered for it. The fear factor is always at the back of your mind but you've just got to play through it."

However, while defenders can cost points, strikers who don't strike shouldn't bank on earning a place in the affections of the fans. "You only need to look at Peter van Vossen," said McKinlay. "He'd achieved a lot in his career, winning the Champions League with Ajax and playing in World Cups with Holland.

"However, I was playing that night at Parkhead when he missed that absolute sitter and he hardly kicked a ball for Rangers after that.

"In fact, I was speaking to Archie Knox about it at the Scotland v Spain game the other week. Archie was Walter's No.2 at the time and he told me that if that miss had cost them the game he'd have run him out of Glasgow himself!

"Luckily for him, Rangers won 1-0 but Van Vossen never really recovered from it."

Another Dutch internationalist who couldn't cut it was Regi Blinker, who was unfortunate enough to arrive in Glasgow as part of the deal which saw Paolo di Canio join Sheffield Wednesday in 1997.

"I remember his first game at Ibrox," said McKinlay. "It was pouring down and Regi might as well have taken an umbrella on to the pitch with him for all he did that day.

"He came in at the end and asked: ‘What just happened out there?' and we counted that he'd had 12 touches.

"Celtic fans watched that and thought: ‘This is what we got for Paolo?' and that didn't help Regi. You need to hit the ground running in Old Firm games and Paolo did that and so did Pierre van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete, Henrik Larsson and even Andy Thom.

"Back then, though, the foreigners were in the minority at Parkhead. Now you could have eight non-Scots making their Old Firm debuts for Celtic on Sunday.

"That makes it harder to even try and let them know what they're in for when they walk out on to the pitch. Who's going to inspire these new boys?

"It's always interesting when you have so many players making their debuts in this game. Someone is going to be a hero and that will set them up for the rest of their Celtic or Rangers career.

"This is also a chance for one of the teams to lay down a marker. I can't ever remember them meeting each other for the first time this late in the season when both of them have 100 per cent records.

"More than any other game, this one will show what the players are made of."