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The first of a double header against the blue half of the Old Firm, and it’s the first ever competitive fixture between the two sides. When you consider the period from the mid-70s to the mid-80s where Liverpool ruled the roost in England and Europe, Rangers won a few Scottish titles in that time. And yet we only ever came up against Aberdeen. European draws seemed to pair us with the likes of Club Brugge, Gladbach and CSKA Sofia seemingly every year, but these ‘random’ draws also kept us apart from Scottish sides. Even during the 90s and Noughties, we managed to come up against Celtic a couple of times, but never Rangers. I suppose given the two sides’ fans’ general political leanings at opposite ends of the spectrum, such encounters may have been a bit of a powder keg. However, with UK politics and general divisiveness more prominent than ever, plus the recent death of a reigning monarch, the climate now is worse than it has been, perhaps ever. Rangers fans will be well aware that Liverpool fans have more in common with the green half of Glasgow (even though the green half has also indulged in its fair share of sectarian shite), so I would expect their fans to belt out the entire anti-LFC repertoire. Sad, but to be expected. I hope our fans don’t reciprocate and instead concentrate on lifting the spirits of our own players. Anyway, this should be all about the football, so with that said: Ambition. Nous. Finesse. Intelligence. Effort. Luck. Drive. Effervescence. X-factor. Perseverance. Electricity. Control. Tenacity. Steel. I don’t ask for much. The sides have only ever met at Anfield on 2 occasions, and the first of those was at the very end of the 19th century. The second wasn’t much more recent than that, taking place on 21st April 1924. It was a testimonial match for Reds stalwart Bill Connell, and the Liverpool team contained the likes of Elisha Scott in goal and Ephraim Longworth in defence. The match finished 2-0 to the visitors thanks to goals from Geordie Henderson and Andy Cunningham. You won’t be surprised to learn that no footage of this match exists, and nor can I find a match report. You’ll have to make do with a photo of the then-defending League champions. Buster Keaton was one of the big silent movie stars of that era, and he directed and starred in the big box office smash of April 1924, Sherlock Jr. Of course I’ve not seen in but I am aware of Buster Keaton and his influence on physical comedy ever since. Charlie Chaplin was the other big physical comedy actor of the time, and if you’ve watched any of Keaton or Chaplin’s stuff, you will recognise where characters like Mr Hulot and Mr Bean come from, plus umpteen Norman Wisdom roles for example. You can even see it in Michael Crawford’s brilliant Frank Spencer, or Peter Sellers’ awesome portrayal of Inspector Clouseau. Keaton plays a cinema projectionist who is dirt-poor but fighting for the affects of a girl against an equally poor but more devious rival. At work, he daydreams about becoming a detective, and one such elaborate daydream places him centre stage as Sherlock Jr. while he is screening a movie that evening, with people he has met being cast in various roles as Sherlock Jr. goes about trying to solve a case. You can watch the film in its entirety here as it is 45 minutes long. Clarence DeMar made it three in a row winning the Boston Marathon in a time of 2:29:40.2, on 21st April 1924. To put his time into context, 98 years later Evans Chebet led a Kenyan 1-2-3 with a winning time of 2:06:51. DeMar would win the Boston Marathon seven times (a record that still stands today), and also claimed bronze at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. The man could run. Like any season, this season is a marathon not a sprint, but we do need to start showing that we are possible contenders for the big prizes by putting up some good performances and results. The injury list is shortening at last (he says with fingers crossed!) but the other issues that have hampered us still needs managing and addressing. Some of our regulars are out of form, we have some inexperienced players that have been introduced, and we have new signings that have not hit the ground running. We look like a squad at the beginning of a transition period. A win here would see us with a healthy 6 points at the halfway stage, making the group picture a little rosier. Rangers were Europa League finalists last season, and they have a couple of Reds old boys in their squad. Winger Ryan Kent is one of their key players and will look to be a real nuisance, and the lesser-spotted Ben Davies was signed by the Ibrox club in the summer in a deal worth a potential £4m. He was in a few of our matchday squads in 2021 following his surprise arrival, but he never once got onto the pitch. I’ve no idea if he’s been playing for Rangers but I would think he’s going to feel he has a point to prove. Rangers were outclassed by Ajax and Napoli in their previous games, and we have it within us to see them outclassed once again. The players just have to remember how to do what we know they are really capable of. Go out there and get the job done.