Cambuslang ace Darren Young joked he’ll be closer to Rangers manager Gio van Bronckhorst in the dugout on Friday night than he ever got to him on the pitch.
The pair battled it out as players in the late 90s and early 2000s while Young was the skipper at Aberdeen and the Dutchman was bossing midfield for the Light Blues.
Now they find themselves together on the touchline, with Young taking his Stirling Albion side to Ibrox looking to claim one of the biggest Scottish Cup scalps in history.
And ex-Cathkin High School pupil Young is relishing the opportunity to lock horns as managers in the fourth round tie.
The 43-year-old said: “I played against van Bronckhorst as a player so it’s funny that we are both now managing.
“To be honest, I’ll probably be closer to him in the dugout than I ever got to him on the park when we were players!
“He was a great player for Rangers and went on to play for Barcelona and at World Cups, so he showed he had it as a player and now he’s showcasing himself as a manager.
“From the coaching side of things, I’m really looking forward to it. It gives me an opportunity to test myself against Rangers. I’m always looking to learn and pick up things.
“We know how Rangers play, but they’ve got great players in every position so it will be very hard. We just want our guys to stick to their task and be dogged, hard to beat and see where it takes us.”
League Two Binos are 80/1 to shock the Scottish Premiership champions, but Young insists he will rock up to Ibrox believing he can upset the new Rangers regime, in what will be van Bronckhorst’s first Scottish Cup tie since taking the reins from Steven Gerrard.
He added: “Anything can happen. It’s 11 versus 11. You could have a sending off or something so we’ve just got to believe.
“All I’m asking of the players is to go and knock their pan in, leave everything on the park.
“I’m going there with the mentality that we can cause an upset and if we catch them on an off-day, who knows what can happen?
"We know how hard it is going to be. It's going to be backs to the wall.
"But we've got players who have got a bit of pace, a bit of skill, who can run at players and get at teams.
"Hopefully we can get the breaks at the right time, do our best to keep a clean sheet as long as possible and, when we get our chances, we need to take them and capitalise on it.
"It's a great opportunity for the boys to go and showcase their talents.
"It's not very often they'll get the chance to go to Ibrox.
"It's a wee cash windfall for the club as well.
"With them having the game on Tuesday [a 1-1 draw with Aberdeen] there, hopefully they'll be a wee bit tired!
"But I'm sure with the squad they have they can just pick another 11 internationals to play.
"That's what we are up against."
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