ALEX RAE has re-lived the moment his teeth were knocked out in the heat of midfield battle - by the most unlikely source.

The tough-tackling midfielder wasn't one to shirk a tackle, but a freak collision saw him caught in the mouth and lose his gnashers... in an Old Firm derby no less.

But it wasn't Neil Lennon - who he tangled with just minutes into his first taste of playing the famous Rangers v Celtic fixture.

He was injured then and popped too paracetamol to get through ankle pain and an eventual two-inch tear in his calf.

And he escaped relatively unscathed when facing some of English football's enforcers earlier in his career with Millwall, Sunderland and Wolves.

But he copped one in the mouth when he clashed with a Celtic rival - not one known for their particularly fearsome reputation either.

Rae explained: "The funny thing is, people ask me 'Who's the hardest guy you've ever played against?'

"I've played Vinnie Jones, Terry Hurlock, Steve McMahon - but it was f****** Aiden McGeady who knocked my teeth out!

"He turned his back [on me] and I caught his shoulder - the wee sh******!"

It came in a Scottish Cup clash back in 2005 when Rae - now Gers first-team coach - was a player under Alex McLeish.

The midfielder was an Old Firm regular - but in the stands rather than the pitch. But savoured the white-hot atmosphere on the pitch and off it.

He told Open Goal: "People tried to build it up to Neil Lennon vs Alex Rae in the second game of the season.

"Two minutes in I thought 'I'm going in here' and we both challenged but my foot twisted and I knew I was in trouble.

"I remember looking at the doctor and saying 'you need to give me something for this, I'm in agony' - I got two paracetamol and a tap on the a***.

"I think it was an Alan Thompson 85th piledriver to win it but I had a tear in my calf - I'd played the full 90 minutes with a two inch tear.

"But I absolutely loved those games."

Rae is back in the Old Firm firing line - but on the touchline and technical areas, rather than the middle of the park.

After leaving Rangers he moved Dundee as player-boss before hooking up with old foe Paul Ince in a managerial double act of midfield enforcers.

But he admitted they HATED one another before forming a friendship and working relationship.

Rae added: "He was phenomenal - a born leader. Technically really good and very strong - but we hated each other.

"Prior to him actually joining Wolves we'd kicked seven bells out of each other and that's what I've come to realise - the ones you dislike and have the gripes with - you're probably similar.

"You want to put the foot in and have a go.

"We became good pals at Wolves playing golf every other day.

"But he told me when he was looking at the Wolves squad before he joined he said 'I know Dean Sturridge, I know Nathan Blake, and oh, that wee a******* Alex Rae's there'.

"But what's funny was when he was being unveiled as the new midfield general for the club I thought the same thing - 'oh no, not that a******'.

"Then fast forward a year later we were good friends and on holiday golfing in Portugal together."

The pair have coached together at Notts County, Blackpool and most recently at Reading before the 54-year-old returned to Ibrox.