The two old friends set to reunite when Rangers face Hibs - 'he was a bit of an idol'

They are unlikely to come up against each other directly, though. In fact, they will be at other ends of the pitch. Goalkeepers Jack Butland and Josef Bursik were team-mates and pals when they were at Stoke City before their careers went in different directions. Now the duo will be reacquainted in the Scottish Premiership.

Butland, 31, already has a season under his belt in Scotland's top flight, but it is all relatively new for Bursik, 24, who arrived at Hibs on loan this summer from Belgian side Club Brugge. Bursik freely admits that Butland was a "bit of an idol" for him when they were together in the Potteries between 2017 and 2020, deputising for the England internationalist in the Premier League.

"We had a good relationship when I was at Stoke," said Bursik, an England Under-21 internationalist who joined Stoke from AFC Wimbledon when he was a teenager. "I learned a lot from him. It will be good to see him.

"Our relationship was good because I was young, I'd just joined Stoke. I was flirting on the edge of going on my first loan when I first joined. He was always a bit of an idol for me growing up, so it was cool to go straight in there with the first team at Stoke and train with him every day. That was a big selling point, actually. It was a good relationship.

“I just learnt a lot from him, as you can imagine, in the Premier League. I was travelling to all those games and stuff, warming up at all the big stadiums when you're 16, 17. That's invaluable, isn't it? I learnt a lot, I had a good relationship for the years that followed that. It was nice.

Bursik namechecks the stadium he enjoyed visiting the most as a Butland's understudy. "For me, it was going to the Bridge because I’m a Chelsea fan, going to the Stamford Bridge, that was big," he recalled. "To be honest, I'd gone from League 2 at AFC Wimbledon to straight on pre-season tour with the first team, the Swiss Alps, it was a different life. You go from there to there, it's different. Those stadiums are great. You find yourself five, six, seven years down the line playing in stadiums that big. It's a nice reward for the hard work."

Butland left Stoke in 2020 to join Crystal Palace as Bursik became more prominent for the first time. This will be the first time they have played against each other competitively. "When he was at Palace, I was at Stoke, I was playing in the league and we played them in the cup, so I wasn't in the squad," recalled Bursik "I saw him then, but I said to him we should have a round of golf in the next few weeks, that would be good. He's a bit better than me, I think."

Bursik is expected to be the busier of the two goalkeepers in front of a packed Ibrox, but the intimidating atmosphere will not faze someone who grew up in the big-game environment.  "For me, I think as a team, you've got to try your best not to look at the opposition for stature. I think you've got to look at them as a team based on how they're doing results-wise. Because otherwise you just get caught up in it. I know it's hard against bigger teams, but that gives you the best chance going into the game to do the best you can.

"I think we just go there and we want to win. I think that's the easiest way to do it. It's going to be good, a good atmosphere. I haven’t been there, I think not many of the lads have, or some of the new lads anyway, so I'm looking forward to that. I've been told about the rivalry. In the area I live, I meet quite a lot of Hibs fans and stuff and I always just stand there and have a little chat with them.

"They always say that with a bigger team there's always a bit of rivalry, especially with Rangers and obviously Hearts. It's good to know. I think the atmosphere is going to be good and these are the games you look forward to, definitely."

After keeping a number of clean sheets in pre-season, Bursik and his defenders came under fire for their performances in the early part of the season. He and centre-halves Marvin Ekpiteta and Warren O'Hora are new signings and have taken time to gel properly. Their first Premiership clean sheet came last time out against St Johnstone and the trio embraced warmly at the final whistle. It was a big moment for them.

"I think there's some level of responsibility as a back three, two centre-backs and goalie, for keeping clean sheets and helping the team win in that way," said Bursik. "And we haven't had that since those pre-season games in that little cup run. So it was a bit of a relief to get that clean sheet, get that win and get that feeling back. You missed that as a defender, so that was nice. And a good moment, you play football for little things like that, so that was nice. Hopefully we can build on that, a bit more confidence and keep going on. 

"We've been disappointed as a group with some of the results, as you can imagine. We've come close, there's a couple of draws we should have won. Two tough games against Celtic, which I think anyone in the league would say that's tough and can put you on the back foot a bit. But no, I think personally, I've done all right. Things I want to do better, things I'm happy with. But on the whole, getting better, that's good for me."