Todd Cantwell is Rangers pantomime villain and my painful Celtic reminder proves need for calm – Barry Ferguson

Todd Cantwell appears to have developed into the pantomime villain of Scottish football with fans of every team apart from Rangers lining up to give him abuse.

And there’s no doubt he’ll get it tight from 60,000 Celtic supporters at lunchtime on Saturday. It’s going to take real mental strength for the Rangers playmaker to block it out and concentrate on doing what he does best, which is bringing energy and creativity to a team that is thriving under Philippe Clement.

Look, I know it’s not easy and there have been times I’ve been unable to practice what I’m preaching. August 2000, Parkhead. 6-2 to Celtic and I’m up the tunnel early for two bookings, the second coming after a bit of daft handbags with Jonathan Gould. Let me tell you, that walk off the pitch and into the dressing room should take 10 seconds but it felt like 10 minutes. Then there’s the wait on your own inside for the final whistle. There’s no lonelier place in football.

And yet, I used that experience as fuel after I served my ban. The next time we played Celtic, we beat them 5-1 at our place. That’s the rollercoaster ride that comes with being at the Old Firm and Cantwell seems to thrive on the experience. Yes, he can get involved in the odd bit of silliness that makes him a target, but he can play and right now he is the creative spark that is vital to this run Rangers take into the Old Firm clash.

They’ll also go into it fresher than they would have been if the Ross County game had been played on Wednesday. But that’s a double-edged sword. Yes, the likes of Connor Goldson, who came off against Motherwell late on, will have had more recovery time, but from a player’s perspective, I always wanted to play when the team is going well. So, I’d rather have