Celtic Park showdown for McLeish

By Clive Lindsay

Celtic v Rangers team news

It is not just Alex McLeish's job that is on the line on Saturday as Rangers travel across the snakelike River Clyde that splits the green from the blue in Glasgow.

The Rangers manager, for the moment at least, has been given until early December to save his job after falling 12 points behind the Scottish Premier League leaders.

But a victory by a resurgent Celtic side who have already won five games in a row would all but end Rangers' chances of retaining the Scottish title with not even half the season gone.

A blank weekend due to internationals means Rangers fans will have already suffered 10 days of hurt following the holders' CIS Insurance Cup exit at the same Celtic Park venue.

Rangers chairman David Murray took some of that time out for intense soul searching before being forced to lift his head above the Ibrox parapet and admit that he was giving McLeish three games to avoid the sack.

Whether it is, indeed, an example of Rangers loyalty to a man who has delivered seven trophies in four seasons, or simply because Murray has yet to secure a replacement, it appears to be his intention to honour that promise.

But it was the manner of the 2-0 cup defeat that so concerned the Rangers board and their legions of fans.

Murray says a similar capitulation at the hands of their bitterest rivals will not be acceptable and, should there be a repeat in the league game, it is reasonable to deduce that he may not be able to resist fan pressure for McLeish's head even if he wanted to.

Rangers players are hurting after their CIS Cup defeat

The manager has not been helped this season by a series of injuries and he goes into Saturday's game without two defenders who have become regulars in recent weeks, Julien Rodriguez and Olivier Bernard.

McLeish, though, is hoping that, not for the first time, an Old Firm derby will fly in the face of the form book.

"I think the players are hurting about the last defeat and I want them to be angry about that result," he said.

"Rather than feeling sorry for themselves and think about any predicament I may find myself in, they've got to go there and focus on restoring some pride."

The problem for McLeish is that his current players have consistently failed to show that they have the ability to bounce back from such adversity.

Celtic strikers Chris Sutton and Maciej Zurawski have, meanwhile, returned to training to further tip the balance of power in the direction of McLeish's friend and former Aberdeen team-mate, Gordon Strachan.

It is an indication of how well things are going along at Parkhead that it appears likely that players who were in such fine form before their injuries will more than likely have to make do with a place on the bench.

Strachan admits that public criticism, such as Rangers have received, can spur players on and that his side will be prepared for that possibility.

But he insists that he himself avoids newspaper, radio or television coverage to protect himself from what he sees as a media "fantasy world".

He will find it difficult to hide from the reality of helping contribute to his friend's Ibrox demise should Celtic emerge victorious by 2.15 on Saturday.