Brian Laudrup's Old Firm memories

[ian1964 10,457]

I was privileged enough to play in a lot of Old Firm games during my four years with Rangers.

 

And though, on the whole, those games held happy memories for me, it didn't start too well for me.

 

In the very first week I joined Rangers, we played three games - one in Europe, one in the Scottish Cup and one Old Firm derby - and we were beaten in all three of them.

 

So it was a very poor start, but I picked up after that and I think it's fair to say we enjoyed most of the games against Celtic at that time.

 

I remember the excitement surrounding an Old Firm game used to begin two or three weeks before, even though there were still one or two games to play.

 

When I joined, that was all the players spoke about. They would try to explain to me and the other foreign players what the match meant, not only to the club but to the fans, although it's very difficult to prepare anyone who hasn't experienced it for the reality of what you're about to go through.

Brian Laudrup and John Collins

The Dane's first derby ended in defeat at Ibrox

 

Certainly, in that first game, I remember the 90 minutes going by in what seemed to be about 10 minutes.

 

I never really got into it, I was just so amazed by the pace of it. Maybe it wasn't the most beautiful football, but certainly, for heart and passion, it was unreal.

 

Walter Smith would try to keep things as normal as possible in the build-up to the games against Celtic - he didn't need to emphasise the enormity of these games to the players.

 

In fact, sometimes he had to try to take the edge off some of the players' passions pre-match in case some of them let that boil over onto the pitch.

 

The Scottish players were generally very fired up - they are born and bred with this kind of hype - while maybe some of the foreigners got themselves prepared in a slightly different way.

 

In a way, it was sometimes easier to play away from home in these matches, because you felt the weight of expectation a bit less from your own fans.

 

Either way, though, when you walk down the tunnel, all you hear is a wall of noise - you can't hear any specific messages, but you can sense what the game means to the supporters.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/8537926.stm

[nokiss 0]

And it was a privilege to watch you Brian.

 

LEGEND.

[Danny 0]

One of my finest OF memories was his grass cutter from outside the box in the 1-0 at Parkhead.

[Gribz 743]

One of my finest OF memories was his grass cutter from outside the box in the 1-0 at Parkhead.

 

That was the Van Vossen miss game when Gascoigne missed a pen and Goram saved Van Hooijdonks pen in the last minute. Nov 1996 to be precise

 

But I cant single out a Laudrup memory. But if i had to then it would be my first trip to an OF game...Hampden Oct 1994 (Celtic played their home games there that season) when we won 3-1 and laudrup tore away from Boyd, rounded Marshall and stuck it in the net.