Derek McInnes will take charge of his first Old Firm match as Rangers manager this week, and he says the memory of his own playing debut in the fixture back in November 1996 is impossible to forget, headlined by one of the most infamous misses in the derby's history.
The clash at Celtic Park came as Walter Smith's Rangers side closed in on a record-equalling ninth successive league title. Brian Laudrup scored an early goal that settled what became a chaotic night, though his strike was largely overshadowed by everything that followed.
Both Paul Gascoigne and Pierre van Hooijdonk had penalties saved during the game, and a fox wandered onto the pitch and did a lap of honour before disappearing. McInnes said all of it paled next to one moment that remains scarcely believable nearly 30 years on.
"That was the (Peter) van Vossen night," McInnes recalled this week.
Van Vossen's astonishing miss
With Celtic pressing for an equaliser, Rangers striker Peter van Vossen sprang the offside trap on the halfway line with a neat flick to Jorg Albertz, then ran unchallenged alongside the German towards Stewart Kerr's goal.
Albertz's square pass with the outside of his boot took the Celtic goalkeeper out of the game, leaving Van Vossen with a tap-in from seven yards, a chance he should have scored blindfolded. Instead his right-foot effort sailed over the bar.
The miss, from a player who had won the Champions League with Ajax, came to define Van Vossen's entire Rangers career. "I remember the gaffer (Walter Smith) didn't really celebrate too much," McInnes said. "He was just so angry with Peter for missing the chance because we put the game at risk towards the end of the game. I think it's just relief we won the game. Peter was a great guy, but I've seen it back again and I still don't know how he misses it. If we hadn't got the result, I think he would have been absolutely leathered. It's one of these things. Thankfully, it didn't have a big bearing on the outcome."
McInnes's own performance
McInnes had no reason to reproach himself that night. After Celtic started strongly, he beat Morten Wieghorst to a long ball in the air, and Brian O'Neil's stumble gifted Laudrup half a chance, which the Dane finished perfectly from the edge of the box to beat Kerr.
"I just remember that I didn't want to let anybody down," McInnes recalled. "I was involved in a dressing room with serial winners who were winning trophies left, right and centre. Coming to the club, I just wanted to feel valued in the sense that I played a part to win something."
He said Smith sometimes set up with a back five against Celtic, with McInnes and Craig Moore playing as two holding midfielders. "We filled the middle of the pitch. We were there to try and break up the play, keep the ball simple and give it to the guys that could make the difference. Thankfully, Laudrup did that."
The weight of nine in a row
The season illustrated the value of winning Old Firm games. Tommy Burns lost all four league meetings with Rangers that year, his last in charge of Celtic, and left the club knowing a single derby win would have handed Celtic the title by a single point instead. For Smith, history was within reach.
"I could see the pressure the gaffer was under as well," McInnes said. "I think there have been three different managers not being able to deliver 10 in a row - Jock Stein, Neil Lennon and Walter. The pressure to deliver nine was clearly on everybody in that dressing room, particularly the gaffer and we all felt it. We all felt that collective responsibility, but the players all wanted to do it for the manager as much as anybody."
Preparing for his first Old Firm game as manager
Smith's approach to those matches will now shape how McInnes handles his own first Old Firm game as a manager. "I think as a player it's different," he said. "You just don't want to let anybody down when you play in these games. You think about your teammates, you think about your friends, your family who are all going on about the game."
He said Smith never needed to manufacture motivation in a dressing room full of winners, and instead focused on fundamentals. "He's the best manager this club's ever had, but his fundamentals were about doing the basics really well. It's hard to win these types of games without everybody bringing a performance of some sort."
McInnes has managed in derbies before, during a year in charge at Hearts. "We won three derbies last season and they were all quite late wins for us," he said. "You could clearly see what it meant to the supporters to win them. The impact it can have on the opposition as well, I think you've got to recognise that as well."
What is at stake
The winner would still face two more ties to win the trophy, but McInnes believes the psychological lift from taking the first Old Firm meeting of the season would be significant. Rangers have not won the opening derby of a campaign in five years, and the sides meet again in the league at Parkhead in a week's time.
"It's a chance to strike a blow to your direct opponents as well. It's a big game," McInnes said. "I understand that if you can win it, you get a lot of feel-good factor benefits from it. We're playing against a team who have been the most successful team in recent seasons. It's up to us to try and take advantage and use the opportunity to say, 'it's our trophy this year and we're going to work towards it.' We have to deliver a performance that overcomes them."
