MACLEOD: BIG ECK'S A HEART BREAKER

RANGERS will pay Hearts the ultimate compliment on Saturday and raise their game to face a side from outside the Old Firm The meeting of the league leaders and the side from Ibrox who are eight points behind them is the most eagerly anticipated match of the season so far.

The Glasgow derby will always be the showpiece occasion of the championship season, whenever it takes place, but there is more interest in the outcome of the Tynecastle match than any I can recall for a long number of years.

The challenge to Hearts is, you've beaten the rest, now see what you can do against the Old Firm.

If George Burley, left, and his team can defeat Rangers and go 11 points clear of them, they are only a win against Celtic away from being considered real title challengers.

So Saturday is the ultimate test of their character for now and it will be Rangers' turn to go into the match under pressure, which is why they'll respond by lifting themselves.

And that's why I think Alex McLeish will come back from Edinburgh with all three points and an enhanced reputation as manager.

Eck made a telling remark after the Champions League win over Porto last midweek when he said he was delighted with the victory for the Alex McLeish supporters.

That was the statement of aman who knows he's still at the centre of a debate over his ability four years after taking charge at Ibrox.

Alex will have heard the stories about Rangers being interested in bringing Graeme Souness back if he gets the sack at Newcastle but why would Rangers want that when big Alex has a better record when it comes to winning trophies ?

Terry Butcher is now the only non-Scot working in the SPL and I think the Rangers fans who wanted a glamour appointment when Dick Advocaat left the manager's office should think about the reasons why that is the case.

Financial cutbacks have meant the forced introduction of young, Scottish talent on the park and everyone's going back to their roots at managerial level as well, including the national team after the Berti Vogts era.

Alex is doing a great job in the face of financial hardship at a club who once spent what they liked.

And he still has a squad that is stronger in depth than the one Burley has at his disposal, which is another reason why Rangers will go a longer distance in the championship than Hearts.

Nobody can detract from what Hearts have done in still having an unblemished record seven matches into the title race.

Celtic or Rangers themselves would be proud to have that record at the start of any season.

But would Hearts have the playing resources to cope if anything happened to their nucleus of Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Andy Webster, Paul Hartley and seven-goal Rudi Skacel? I don't think so.

George also has his own behind- the-scenes rumour to contend withthe one about his relationship with Hearts' owner Vladimir Romanov being a bigger threat to the club's stability than the Old Firm.

But I would blow that one out of the water for as long as Hearts are enjoying a good run.

Adversity is the only complication that might highlight differences between the two men.

So the stage is set for a potential classic at Tynecastle. A game which comes immediately before Rangers' Champions League tie against Inter Milan in a silent San Siro.

You might think that would prey on Rangers' minds on Saturday, especially since they've called off the home game with Inverness Caley Thistle that comes before facing Artmedia Bratislava, the weakest team in Group H.

But I see no reason why it should be a problem to play Hearts and Inter in the space of a few days. Call me old fashioned but major games on a back-to-back basis would always have focused my mind.

There has been so much hype surrounding the match at Tynecastle but Rangers could be coming good at the right time after the win over Porto and the convincing nature of their league victory against Kilmarnock on Saturday.

But if Hearts confound my prediction and beat Rangers this weekend they will have thrown down a giant-sized marker in the championship.

And that will be a massive feather in Burley's cap.

Great players don't always play well when they have to be absorbed into new surroundings in large batches,so it's a tribute to his sound coaching methods that things have been going as well as they havebeen at Tynecastle.

The big Eastern European contingent at the club don't know that it isn't really supposed to be this way in our top league.

They don't appreciate how gobsmacked everybody is that they could go 11 points clear of Rangers after only eight matches.

But Rangers will understand only too well how inadvisable it would be for them to return home to Glasgow on Saturday night in that seriously disadvantaged position.

And that's one reason why it won't happen

Taken from the Daily Record