Rangers beat Celtic with the scruffiest last-minute goal you’ll ever see from Maurice Edu. Scott Brown was sent off following a clash with Kyle Lafferty.
But that Old Firm clash at Ibrox on February 10 in 2010 is probably best remembered for two clattering tackles on Robbie Keane by Kevin Thomson in the opening minutes of the match. Certainly, a look at his Twitter feed 13 years on will confirm they’ve never been forgotten. And the former Rangers midfielder still can’t quite believe that the five trophies and European final appearance in his three years in Govan are eclipsed by a couple of thundering challenges that he insists he made in every other game.
Difference is, of course, that an Old Firm showdown isn’t every other game. It’s the only game in the eyes of those from either side of the divide. And when Republic of Ireland superstar Keane, who had joined Celtic on loan from Spurs a month earlier, taunted Thomson about his wealth, the Rangers man made it his mission to let him know he’d been in a game.
“I can’t say Robbie was in my sights that day,” he told the Off The Record podcast. “It didn’t really matter who it was – I just wanted to impose myself on the game.
“The reaction came about after he pulled my jersey and I kind of pushed him, I had just tackled him and was getting up ready to go again. He said something to me about being a ‘skint c***’.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t have minded being a tenner behind Robbie Keane! But now we had a wee personal duel on the pitch and I took it upon myself to make a beeline for him whenever I got the opportunity. I wanted to impose my physicality on him and get in around his feet.
“Robbie was a top player and unluckily for him and luckily for me, that day caught the Rangers’ fans’ imagination. But I made those tackles every other week yet on that occasion, they looked bigger and better than they were.
“Those games suited me. I relished them. I loved the build up and intensity. I understood quite early in my Rangers career that second best was no good, so when those games came around the 12 points available were really important to where the title ended up. I sensed it was important for the team to be aggressive, especially if the game had gone a bit flat.
“Brown did it for Celtic for a decade and a half. The battle in the engine room is so important to coming out on top. Players change through time but winning the battle is still important to this day. It’s something I brought to the team. It’s humbling when I go back to Ibrox for events that I’m still reasonably thought of within the fanbase. I just wanted to win.”
That was a mentality drilled into him as a kid coming through the Hibs ranks. But it was also reinforced in no uncertain terms the minute he walked through the Ibrox doors in late January 2007 to sign for Walter Smith.
And the manner in which the late, great, Rangers manager treated him has never been forgotten by the 38-year-old who still follows his life lessons. He said: “Everybody knows how high a regard I hold him in. I try to live my life and hopefully conduct myself in a similar manner of respect and being humble, to what he was. He was just a class act.
“He made me feel on top of the world every single day - whether he was giving me a rant or a kick up the backside. He had a natural humility and a way of looking after human beings that I still felt he really cared about me and really valued me.
“It goes back to wee daft things. I still remember (agent) Willie McKay being on the phone and the deal that we had agreed was slightly different – no less money but it was slightly different on appearance fee to basic wage. I was a bit uncomfortable with the appearance being as big as it was compared to the basic wage being slightly smaller. They had already printed off all the forms, I remember it like yesterday.
“But Walter just said, ‘Nae problem. We’ll fix it’. It was the same when I had just signed and Sir David Murray phoned to say he and Willie were sitting in Charlotte Square at Sir David’s offices.
“They had just opened a bottle of champagne. Walter is laughing at them down the phone on loudspeaker. But you know what Willie McKay was like. He goes, ‘By the way, have you put a club car in the contract?’.
“I didn’t know I was getting a club car. I didn’t even want one because I couldn’t drive. It was the last thing I was thinking about. Martin Bain (Rangers CEO) was like ‘Willie are you taking the p***? We’ve just printed out the forms again and signed them!’ But then Walter said, ‘Listen, I’ll give him a club car. Nae problem.’
“I still remember getting my first club car. Sandy Jardine used to look after them and I said to Sandy, ‘Sandy, am I getting a car?’. He looked at the list and said, ‘Thommo, you’re not on the list!’
“I explained the scenario and I ended up getting my club car anyway. But I had to get somebody to come and pick it up from the training ground for me because I couldn’t drive!”
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