Nat Phillips on the premature Rangers derby cheers that 'whet his appetite' to kickstart Celtic career

Nat Phillips experienced his first Old Firm clash from the Ibrox media room two days after joining Celtic on loan from Liverpool.

It’s fair to say he’s champing at the bit to be a bit more involved in the next one at the end of December. Phillips, son of former Rangers left back Jimmy who spent a season at Ibrox under Graeme Souness in 1987, wasn’t born when his old man was pulling on a blue jersey and had absolutely no qualms about heading to the other side of the city when the call came from Brendan Rodgers.

Now, with the international break coming to an end, the centre back is hoping to play his first top team football since January when Dundee arrive at Parkhead on Saturday. “I’m now just itching to go and get into the games,” said the man who made his Liverpool top team debut in an FA Cup Merseyside derby and clearly can’t wait to experience the Glasgow version, having ‘almost’ witnessed one on 11 days at the start of the month.

“I’m fit and ready to play now,” he added. “I have had two weeks training under my belt so we’ll see if I can get a game at the weekend. But I’m feeling good.

“The Rangers game just came a bit soon, that’s all it was. There was some talk about maybe playing but the important thing was the team got the win.

“I was at Ibrox - I just couldn’t go out into the stand! I was in the dressing room beforehand and at half-time and the end of the game to be amongst it all. But for the match itself I watched it on TV in the media room.

“It could still hear the atmosphere from in there. It was an entertaining game to watch and quite intense at the end. But it was great to be there to support the boys.

“The TV was about four or five seconds behind the action, right enough. At one point I could hear cheers