GRAEME SOUNESS has run the risk of infuriating Rangers supporters byclaiming they should be grateful that he signed their best player.

Many Rangers fans have become increasingly angry with Souness for repeatedly plundering the club's leading names, with Jean-Alain Boumsong the latest in a series of signings he has made from Ibrox. Tugay, Lorenzo Amoruso and Barry Ferguson have all joined up with Souness and the former manager also tried to bring Craig Moore to Blackburn Rovers.

The [pounds]8 million deal which took Boumsong to Newcastle onJanuary 1 was the final straw for many supporters who cannot reconcile Souness's claim to be a Rangers fan himself with his frequent cherry-picking of their most influential players.

Rather than acknowledging that the [pounds]17m he has paid for their players had eased Rangers' debt, many simply regard him as systematically weakening the team.

How Rangers' defence will cope against Chris Sutton and John Hartson without Boumsong will be one of the key issues of this afternoon's Tennent's Scottish Cup clash with Celtic at Parkhead.

Souness - who was Rangers manager for five years until 1991 - said he was benefiting his former club and supporters ought to be thankful for the high transfer fee he had paid for Boumsong. Asked about Rangers fans being angry with him, he replied: "I can fully understand that, but at the end of the day I am the manager of Newcastle United and I have to do my best for this football club. I think David Murray should get a tremendous amount of applause for signing a player for nothing and six months later getting [pounds]8m for him.

"I don't know about thanking me for the other ones [players signed from Rangers], but certainly I think Boumsong has been a great deal for everyone.

"We feel we have a great player and Rangers had the use of a great player for six months and have earned [pounds]8m out of it. The world knows that top players want to play in the Premiership. If I am portrayed as the bad guy, then I have to live with that."

Souness insisted his relationship with Rangers was still sound despite falling out with the club over how his initial bids for Boumsong came to be leaked to the media.

"Rangers are still my greatest love after this club I am working for, and that will remain the case wherever I work. I speak to David [Murray] at least once a week.

I have no problem with David.

He has been my friend for the best part of 20 years. You know what football is like."

Celtic yesterday stressed that today's third-round tie is a 60,000 sell-out following reports that hundreds of tickets had been available on open sale from the club's shops. There are concerns that some of those tickets are in the hands of Rangers fans - the Ibrox club's official allocation was only 8,000 so their demand hugely exceeded supply - and that there could be outbreaks of trouble during the match.

But Celtic said that only a "handful" of tickets, for restricted view seats, had been put on general sale. The Celtic tickets did not sell out as quickly as usual because of the [pounds]30 cost and the fact that some supporters, knowing the game will be shown on Sky, wanted to make a point to the club's board over the lack of transfer activity.

Collections for the DEC Tsunami Earthquake Appeal will take place inside the stadium from 10.45am to kickoff at 12.15pm.

Rangers midfielder Stephen Hughes is a surprise transfer window target for Birmingham City and Wigan. The 22-yearold Scot has appeared 13 times for Rangers this season, but has been no more than a squad player under Alex McLeish and faces further competition for a first-team place from new arrivals Thomas Buffel and Bojan Djordjic, who could both make their debuts today.

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce has watched Rangers games this season with a view to submitting a bid for Fernando Ricksen, but Hughes is understood to have made an impression.

Meanwhile, Celtic have turned down an approach by Inverness Caledonian Thistle to take Ross Wallace on loan for the rest of the season.

"They were very clear that he is regarded highly at Celtic, " said Caley Thistle player/manager Craig Brewster. "With Aiden McGeady doing so well we had hoped there was a wee chance and someone like Ross Wallace is the type of player we need."