Kemar Roofe Rangers qualities extolled as Kirk Broadfoot prepares to renew rivalry with Ibrox new boy

Kirk Broadfoot reckons it takes “a set of b***s” to be able to handle the Ibrox crowd at Rangers.

But in Kemar Roofe the big defender says Steven Gerrard has landed a striker who also possesses a brain.

Broadfoot heads to his old stomping ground in Govan with Kilmarnock today and could renew rivalries with Roofe whom he first faced while at Rotherham four years ago.

The Ibrox new boy was leading the Leeds United attack on that day and gave Broadfoot’s side a torrid afternoon in a 3-0 Yorkshire derby win for the Elland Road club.

The 36-year-old defender is hoping to cope better this time round although he insists the lack of fans inside the ground will work in Rangers’ favour.

Broadfoot said: “I came up against him (Roofe) when he was at Leeds United and I thought he was excellent, a really clever player. 

“He gets himself into very good areas and he’ll be a good acquisition for Rangers.

“For people who haven’t seen him before, he’s also very good in the air for his size.

“He’ll come short and link the play and, the next thing you know, he’ll be in the box and ready to finish off the move.

“He could play in a two up front but I reckon they’ll continue with the same formation because Rangers have been superb in their games at Ibrox so far.”

Much of which Broadfoot puts down to the lack of pressure coming from the stands in successive 3-0 wins over St Mirren and St Johnstone.

The veteran won three SPL titles in five years at Ibrox and says the demands from the Light Blues’ faithful mean “you have to have a set of balls and can’t shy away or worry about mistakes”.

(Image: SNS Group)

So he agrees the closed doors setting is beneficial to Gerrard’s side. “Normally, if we go there and we’re winning or drawing after an hour or so you’ll hear the groans coming down from the stands,” he said. 

“That gets to players and maybe they’d start to shell it long.

“However, they don’t have that to contend with now: without the fans driving them on, they can afford to be a bit more patient. Fans can turn on you very quickly whenever you make a mistake.

“They have good, strong players who were learning how to cope with that but playing behind closed doors will help them, especially when they’re playing against a team like us, who will go there and try to frustrate them.

“On our day we can frustrate anyone. The way we’re set up we can be hard to break down or play through.”

Broadfoot rattled the bar as Killie threw away a 1-0 lead in the final five minutes to lose 2-1 to St Johnstone last week. 

He admitted the players have let down Alex Dyer but is confident they can make amends at Ibrox.

“Our results have been disappointing but we’ve been encouraged by our performances,” he said.

“The management and coaching staff have been blameless. Their tactics have actually worked but we’ve let them down with individual errors.

“We haven’t won yet but there’s no doom and gloom here.”

Broadfoot reckons the 10 in a row pressure on Celtic and Rangers will grow as the season continues – leading to spilled points on both sides.

He said: “I think that they’ll both continue to drop points over the course of the season.

“Maybe it’ll come down to which of them does best in the Old Firm games.

“I only care about what Kilmarnock are going to do and maybe the fact the stakes are so high will help us and the other Premiership clubs. 

“There’s pressure on both every year but this season there will be more than ever before.”