Andy Goram would love Old Firm to be paired in League Cup draw

By MARTIN HANNAN
Published on 04/10/2012 00:00

SPEAKING as one former Rangers and Scotland goalkeeper to another, Andy Goram has a special request for Bobby Brown when he makes the draw for the Scottish Communities League Cup at Hampden this afternoon.

He didn’t quite plead with 79-year-old Brown to draw Celtic and Rangers together, but feels that “it’s time” for the Old Firm to meet again.

“I really want to play Celtic, I really would,” said Goram. “I think it’s time we had one because everyone is missing it. We’re only quarter of the way into the season and everyone in the country is missing it. Even the most bitter Rangers and Celtic fans can’t say they’re not missing the Old Firm games – they’re the best games in the world.”

But hang on – are Celtic not top dogs and doing well in Europe, and aren’t Third Division Rangers not as all-conquering as most people thought? Wouldn’t it be a mismatch?

“I’d bet Rangers,” said Goram. “I wouldn’t fear for Rangers, that game would take care of itself.”

The Ibrox club has already shown they can go up against an SPL side and win, as Goram pointed out. He said: “Motherwell had a fantastic start to the season and fully deserved to be top of the league. They were favourites at Ibrox despite having not won there in a million years and I thought that was strange. Rangers were 6/4 and that amazed me. It’s OK saying that after the event but that’s how it is in Scottish football right now. It’s a big adventure. Obviously the sponsors would want an Old Firm final, that would be unbelievable.”

Bobby Brown was best known as Scotland’s first full-time manager and the man who guided Scotland to that unforgettable 3-2 win over world champions England at Wembley in 1967. He was part of the Rangers team that won the inaugural Scottish League Cup in 1946-47 and won six caps for Scotland as well as five Scottish League Championships and four Scottish Cups, plus another League Cup, before managing St Johnstone – he gave Alex Ferguson his professional break – and then Scotland. No doubt Brown will have his ideas on solving the mystery of Rangers’ away form and Goram certainly has his.

He said: “Away from home it’s not so much ability that matters, it’s attitude. You have to earn the right to go and play. First you’ve got to fight and win your battles.

“Then you can play. It’s easy for people on the outside to look at what’s happening and say they’re not doing well away from home. But it’s not easy to go to these grounds. We had to do it maybe once or twice in a season at most and it’s not easy to lift your game at all.

“It was easier for us to play at Elland Road and Marseilles than it is for them to play at Annan and Peterhead, a lot easier.”