The former Welwyn Pegasus youngster, on loan at Glasgow Rangers from Premier League title-chasers Tottenham Hotspur, helped his side secure promotion back to the Scottish Premiership after a four-year exodus with a Dumbarton win eight days ago and last Sunday, the Gers won the Petrofac Training Cup, beating Peterhead 4-0 at Hampden Park. As he prepares for his Old Firm baptism at Hampden, the Rangers manager revealed he has drawn advice from two of the most distinguished figures in the entire history of the club.
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His record in Dundee derby matches during his time with United certainly stands up to very close scrutiny indeed; he played in six of them during his time on Tayside without being on the losing side once.
“When i first came, I just thought I’m coming to get some games and then you start realising about the opportunities you’ve got and you start thinking about it more”.
Deila joked about his preparation for the Rangers game, saying: “We have trained the whole week with 10 men” before stressing the need to remain calm during what is sure to be a typically feisty derby. If you are bricklayer and get told to build a wall twice as big as normal, you get on with it and deal with it. The lads are well-prepared, they have worked hard all season. If you get the better of your rival it means that bit extra than a normal league game.
” We have played to a consistent level of performance all season and we’ve got our rewards in terms of winning the league”. I scored and it was an all-round great day. If we could repeat that, it would be brilliant.
Robbie Neilson, Hearts head coach, is well aware of the expectations that will be placed upon the Ibrox side.
“After almost a year [in Scottish football], I think I have come to understand what is involved and how it works”.
Armstrong has struggled to reproduce the sort of form which convinced Deila to pay £2 million for him previous year and has been open about how he has found this season at Celtic hard. There’s no doubt about that, but first of all there’s lots of stuff we have to look at’.
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“It has been tough at times”, he said. I can’t comment on Celtic fans and their view. We want to go and win the game, absolutely. I’d be delighted for the players and might have a nice glass of red wine – or four. I think it’s a big game, a big fixture. “They are top of the Premiership, they’ve been in Europe for a number of years and benefited accordingly, so they must have a stronger squad”.
