STEVEN Whittaker has told Rangers fans he won’t fear their jeers when he lines up against his old club for Hibs this season.

Whittaker, along with the likes of Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty, objected to move from oldco to newco Rangers back in June 2012, resulting in an angry backlash from some sections of the club’s support as they moved to new sides while the Ibrox outfit started the following campaign in the bottom tier.

Five years on and the 33-year-old defender is back in Scotland with Hibs following a prolonged spell at Norwich City and is in line to come up against his old club at Ibrox on August 12.

However, Whittaker has brushed off any notion that he will be put out by the hostile atmosphere that is waiting for him in Govan, insisting that he hasn’t lost any sleep over becoming the pantomime villain in green and white.

He said: “Whatever reception I get, I won’t let it bother me. I’m 33 now so I’ve experienced all the different ones, whether you’re cheered or booed.

“That’s part of football and you just have to get on with it. I’ve not given any thought to what kind of welcome I’ll get there.

“I’ll just be trying my best to win for Hibs, like the rest of the other boys. I just don’t want to let anyone down.

“Everyone has a different opinion of what happened and who was to blame for what.”

Both Whittaker and Naismith delivered legal letters to former Rangers chief executive Charles Green five years ago which refused their contracts to be transferred to the Englishman’s Sevco 5088 company.

Speaking at the time, Whittaker said: “From a football point of view, I think it’s best to continue my career elsewhere.

“I’m 28 and I want to play at the top level for as much as I can.

“It doesn’t look like Rangers will be in the SPL and there’s no European football.

“We owe no loyalty to the new club. There is no history there for us.”

Jumping forward to his press conference yesterday, Whittaker once again touched on the matter, claiming he and Naismith had done nothing wrong in their search for competitive first-team football.

“As players we were paid to play football and that’s what we tried to concentrate on through the whole process,” added Whittaker.

“It was difficult at times but that’s all we knew. Steven and I wanted to play football. That was the be all and end all. We took the wage cuts, for example, to try and help everything come back together.

“We did our bit but people have different perceptions of that. We can’t change that. We just need to get on with it.”

An Old Firm mentality is something the former Rangers defender is hoping can bolster Hibs’ chances of success as they tackle the Premiership after a two-year absence.

Whittaker will team up with former Celtic boss Neil Lennon as his new gaffer, and said: “Obviously I was at Rangers when the manager was at Celtic and because we’ve both been involved with the Old Firm, we probably have that winning mentality.

“The manager’s certainly been there and done it, and I’ve got a lot of shared experiences as well.

“It’s something we can hopefully help bring to the squad. There’s definitely been a change of mindset within the club.

“It’s one of the biggest things that the manager’s brought. I played against him as a player and his determination sticks out.

“We’re a big club in this league and we need to go there and show that.”