Charlie Mulgrew has poured cold water on the latest Ibrox revolution.
A couple of Premiership wins around high scoring cup ties against lower division opposition has sent delusions sky high ahead of Sunday’s visit from Celtic.
The bookies have priced the home side at 3/1 but according to some Sevco fans that is the minimum scoreline that they expect from Sunday’s match.
Over the next few days the hype from Ibrox will go up a notch or three but now watching from a distance Mulgrew can put things in perspective.
“Rangers (Sevco) have picked up recently and will be getting a wee bit excited but the pressure is more on them right now,” the Blackburn defender told The Sun.
“They’ve done well lately, sure, but it’s now time for them to step up. They’ve been getting battered for two years, so they need to prove they can put on a decent performance in an Old Firm game, which they’ve not really done. I know there are two ways to look at it.
“There will be some who insist the pressure is all on Celtic because they’ve supposedly not been playing great lately, but I don’t buy that. For me Rangers have to win this one.
“What happened to the pressure that comes with playing for Rangers when you look at the size of that club?
“For two years they’ve been getting bullied by Celtic so surely there’s a pressure on them.”
Looking at the December meeting between the two clubs Mulgrew added: “In the last game at Celtic Park I felt Rangers did well in spells. They had chances even though over the course of the 90 minutes I thought Celtic were better.
“It was just because Celtic had been so good, and Rangers hadn’t been, that people went over the top about how Rangers were the better team. So many people jumped on that bandwagon, but I didn’t.
“Listen, there’s a focus on the two teams this Sunday — Celtic have plenty of players who can hurt Rangers, while Rangers have definitely picked up a bit lately.”
Mulgrew opened the scoring in the last ever derby match against Rangers when Celtic cruised to a 3-0 win against a team that had taken 75% wage cuts to help the club through administration.
In six Premiership matches against the new club Celtic have won four and drawn two with an impressive run of three consecutive wins at Ibrox.
