Rarely has a Philippe Clement press conference been this hotly anticipated, with the Rangers manager’s moment coming up on Friday afternoon.

The big deal with this one is revealing the fitness of several players, or, more to the point, that the boss is unlikely to.

This is the first time we can truly expect, and in fact endorse, Clement borderline lying about the state of his players’ fitness because giving Celtic any clues about who’s fit and who isn’t or who might start or who won’t is giving them lot an advantage we have no intention of doing.

Any Rangers fan expecting the ‘truth’ from this particular conference is very likely to be disappointed, and while we will of course report what he says, the chances of learning if Ridvan will start, Sterling’s fitness and all the rest of it are very low.

That is, of course, the first thing the hacks will ask, understandably, but Clement is too canny to show his hand.

He at best will say Ridvan has trained, but remains a doubt – regardless of whether he is or not.

He just isn’t going to tell Celtic who’s starting and who isn’t, who’s fit and who isn’t – in this case less is definitely more and Clement has learned a tonne in his time at Ibrox and certainly from the trip to Parkhead.

We’re not saying he is wisdom personified and knows all the ‘ways’ of the game and Old Firm, because he is still relatively ‘new’ to British and Scottish football even after this 5+ months.

But he will surely know enough by now about the Old Firm to know that less is more and showing all your cards on the eve of a match this big is an ill-advised move which gives the advantage to your opponent.

But then, that’s where the ‘lying’ comes in ‘yes, Ridvan is fit’ when he isn’t, and starting Sterling or Barisic there with Celtic planning to negotiate our first choice instead…

The point is we’ll not trust Clement too much when he speaks in this particular presser. And that’s exactly what he wants, we’d think.