Assistant manager Billy Stark believes Albion Rovers will be much more than simply underdogs against Celtic on Sunday.

The League One side face the high-flying Hoops in the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round with the match moved to Airdrie's ground to accommodate the 9,500 crowd, the vast majority of whom will be cheering on Brendan Rodgers' men.

Celtic are unbeaten domestically this season, having drawn once in 20 Ladbrokes Premiership games to sit 19 points clear of traditional rivals Rangers at the top of the table with the Betfred Cup already secured.

Stark, a former Celtic midfielder who was subsequently assistant manager to the late Tommy Burns at the Parkhead club, is in no doubt about the magnitude of the task facing the part-timers from Coatbridge.

"It is David versus Goliath times 10, the way Celtic have been going," he told Press Association Sport.

"It is about the club handling the day well and the players doing their utmost to make it difficult for Celtic, and do themselves justice.

"It has been well documented where Celtic are now in terms of Scottish football.

"They are being run very efficiently, they have brought in loads of money and got into the Champions League group stages this season.

"They have a very sound base from which to dominate Scottish football for a very long time.

"Rangers, of course, because of the history of it, will be forced to compete and I am sure they will but Celtic have a real stranglehold now and the way they have been playing, with attacking football, it is like the old Celtic that I knew.

"And no matter who they play it will be tough for us."

Stark's spell as number two to Burns - from 1994 to 1997 - was during the time when Scottish-born Canadian businessman Fergus McCann saved Celtic from financial problems before redeveloping the stadium.

Burns' side narrowly failed to halt Rangers on their way to nine titles in a row and he ultimately paid for it with his job.

While the Ibrox club are currently trying to rebuild after their own financial problems saw them re-emerge at the bottom tier of Scottish football in 2012, Celtic are racing to title number six.

The former Scotland Under-21 boss did not envisage the change in power which has taken place in Glasgow.

He said: "We were at the other end. It was during our time there that David Murray (former Rangers owner) said that if Celtic spend a fiver we will spend a tenner or whatever.

"You don't have any bad feeling about that time because I don't think Tommy could have done much more. He turned round that whole pool of players and brought in exciting players that went through a league season (1995-96) losing only one game.

"But Rangers were able to afford players like Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup and Andy Goram and they were able to win games, sometimes late on as well and you can't say they didn't deserve it.

"It was frustrating. But I think it is accepted how well Tommy did to get Celtic on the road to where they are today, in conjunction with Fergus with the stadium because that is all part of it.

"When we were there the stadium was being built piecemeal and our first season was at Hampden Park which was horrendous to be honest with you.

"All those things played a part but Tommy was able to put together a Celtic team in the best Celtic traditions and we just came up a wee bit short but it was no disgrace to that Rangers team."