In 2012, David Healy was part of a Rangers team that were invited to Linfield out of charity, playing in a friendly to raise funds for the stricken Ibrox club.

Fast-forward four years, and as manager of the Windsor Park side, he is preparing to welcome a Light Blues outfit that look to have an altogether brighter future.

In fact, despite an indifferent – if unbeaten - start to their league season, Healy is convinced that Rangers have enough about them to compete with Celtic in next Saturday’s Old Firm clash.

Read more: Healy: Linfield can't wait to welcome Rangers and "best support in Scotland"

He points to the Scottish Cup semi-final victory that Rangers enjoyed over their city rivals in April, as well as the experienced players brought in by manager Mark Warburton, as sufficient evidence that Brendan Rodgers’ buoyant Hoops won’t have it all their own way.

And while supporters of Linfield are excited to see their ‘other’ team in the flesh this weekend, there is already a palpable sense of anticipation in Belfast ahead of the Celtic Park showdown.

“The excitement is already building here, we are obviously aware that the Old Firm game is the weekend after our match,” Healy said.

“Everyone in Northern Ireland is fully aware of Rangers’ fixture list in fact, so the excitement has been building since probably late July or August.

“Celtic are in good form with a new manager and they’re into the next stages of the Champions League, but Rangers can certainly take heart from the Scottish Cup semi-final, even though a few of the players and personnel have since changed on both sides.

“Although they didn’t ultimately go on to win the trophy, the performance showed that the margin between the calibres of the players wasn’t that great.

“Rangers can certainly take positives from that and it will be a fantastic game. They’ve missed the league encounters and it’s something that everyone can relish.

“I think with some of the players Rangers have brought in there’s a lot of Premier League experience, which they’ve probably not needed in the last few years when they’ve been in the Championship or League One.

Read more: Healy: Linfield can't wait to welcome Rangers and "best support in Scotland"

“This is a big step up for them this year from what they’ve been playing against in the last couple of years, but once Rangers get established again in the top-flight hopefully it will take off and they can gain more success.

“The standard of their players has improved and their finances have improved, although whether that makes them capable of sustaining a challenge remains to be seen.

“Whether Rangers win the league or not this year I think and hope they’ll certainly be pushing for it over the next 12 to 18 months.

“They have the right man in charge and they play the right kind of football. I’ve seen them play quite a bit and it looks as if it is a completely different style of football that they’re playing, and one that Rangers fans can relate to.”

Healy still has connections at Rangers despite almost the entire squad he played with moving on from the club in the tumultuous years since his own departure.

With his Rangers leanings still strong, he admits that he will perhaps instruct his players not to be too robust with their challenges on Saturday with such a titanic tussle on the Ibrox side’s horizon.

“I’m sure Mark Warburton will certainly not want any of his players taking a knock,” he said.

“I keep in touch with Jimmy Bell who is the long-standing kit-man there, and the masseur big David (Lavery), so there’s a few people still there.

“The majority of players have all moved on, there’s probably only Lee Wallace that’s still there.

“There’s been a lot of fresh new faces coming into the club which is obviously pleasing to see, and they are back in the Premiership where they fully deserve to be - and always should have been.

“For us, it’s a game we can go and enjoy and hopefully Rangers can come over and enjoy it too.

“The day is nearly here, and it’s always nice to have a club of Rangers’ stature in Belfast.

Read more: Healy: Linfield can't wait to welcome Rangers and "best support in Scotland"

“They’ll be well looked-after and they will be treated like kings, as they always are, whatever age group it is that comes.

“When Rangers come to Northern Ireland they’re always shown huge respect, and that will be the same on Saturday.”

As a young manager at 37, there are few tougher challenges in Northern Ireland than taking on the weight of expectation – not too dissimilar to that at Rangers – which exists at Linfield.

Healy acknowledges that it has been a tough grounding, but he says the knowledge and experience he picked up while at Ibrox has set him in good stead for the task at hand.

“I’m certainly enjoying it,” he said.

“It’s a tough place to come into as your first job in management with the success they’ve had in previous years, so they always demand it just like Rangers do because they’ve had it for so long.

“It was a tough year last year because we finished runners-up in the two cup competitions and in the league, so hopefully we can go better in a couple of competitions this year.”