'Some things favour Rangers' - Ex-Celtic boss makes Hampden ball boys claim ahead of Scottish Cup semi-final

Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has suggested that ‘neutral ball boys’ could aid Rangers’ cause against his old club in this Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final.

The multiball, rapid-return-to-play approach from the ball staff at Celtic Park that has been established by Ange Postecoglou has been cited by various opposition managers as destablising to their attempts to reset following a pause in play when facing the Scottish champions in their home environment.

Strachan, in an interview with the Casinosite.nl website, alighted one factor in musing over what about the Hampden clash that could allow Michael Beale’s men to fare better than in their recent loss at Parkhead, a necessity to avoid an outcome that would leave Celtic heavy odds to complete a fifth treble in seven seasons.

“[What] might help Rangers is the ball boys are neutral and aren’t ‘on either team’ so to speak,” he said. “Because at Celtic the ball boys are part of the team. The number of times you watch and the television cameras can’t keep up with it. The ball goes out and you think ‘I can have a rest’ but you look up and the game’s on again! The pitch is a bit softer at Hampden as well. There’s a softness to it, so there are some things in Rangers’ favour.”

Gordon Strachan during the Viaplay Cup final between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden on February 26. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

These potential levellers did not help the Ibrox side’s cause when losing 2-1 in the Viaplay Cup final at the national stadium two months ago. And Strachan offset them largely by questioning whether Rangers could match Celtic’s fitness levels on the basis of how that decider developed.

"There’s plenty of talented players {at Rangers} but do they have the fitness level and the attitude that the team comes first if they don’t play for 90 minutes?,” said the 66-year-old. “That’s the criteria to play for Celtic, so that might be a problem for some {Rangers} players. I watched the League Cup final myself and it was very close like most people thought. But what happened after about 38 minutes was Rangers’ fitness levels went, which allowed Celtic to dominate the last 10 minutes of the half. That shows how important fitness is. That’s the test for anyone that plays against Celtic. If you’re not super fit you’ll run out of energy and if you do close them down and win the ball comes back, do you have the energy to play again? That’s what the Celtic players can do. That’s what the top teams like Manchester City do.”

Rangers' biggest headache could come in preventing Kyogo Furuhashi proving the difference-maker. The Japanese forward has developed a taste for proving a derby destroyer with doubles in the rivals’ past two confrontations. On the back of his equaliser in the 2-2 league draw at Ibrox in new year, the 28-year-old now has the opportunity to become the first player from either side to score in four straight iterations of the fixture since Celtic midfielder John Collins achieved that feat in 1994.

“Rangers will need to make sure no one can get their head up and play the ball in behind because Kyogo’s first thought is always ‘in behind’,” Strachan said of the possible means to blunt Celtic’s 29-goal attacking phenomenon. “That’s where he wants to go. So if you cannot do that, you’ve got to drop right back deep and make sure Kyogo doesn’t go in behind. No matter what happens, this fella’s not going in behind. He might go short but at least you’ve got a chance if he goes short. Rangers have got two options. They can press up higher to stop that ball in behind at source but once you get the ball back are you a better team than Celtic? If you don’t have the ball that’s not a concern. If you can’t do either of these two things your third option is to go back and sit in and say whatever happens you’re not going in behind and neither are the two wingers.”