If you needed any more evidence of how intimidating an Old Firm match can be then look no further. Former Celtic captain Alan Stubbs recently sat down with the Coaches Voice, giving a first hand insight into the pressure he felt in his first derby:
I remember it as if it was yesterday, it was that vivid. It was at Ibrox and I'd been told about the rivalry and what it meant to the fans and what to expect. But it's like when you do something and people tell you about what's going to happen, but then it was another level again.
I'm walking out the tunnel for the warm up but the next minute I was getting spat at, getting called everything under the sun. I'm walking out and I've gone: "Oh my god", you know, I didn't expect it to be this fierce.
At times, when the ball was going out towards the fans, there was one or two occasions where I left it, I thought, I'll get another ball because you'd go to get the ball and they'd be trying to grab you.
The former Everton defender did say that once he became accustomed to the intensity that he grew to love the rivalry, admitting that he loved "the pressure of building towards an Old Firm game".
Stubbs revealed that the occasion sometimes got to other players in that they "built themselves up", and the fear they had of losing had drained them of all there energy before they'd even kicked a ball.
