Mike McCurry has been a target for fans in the past

The 41-year-old, who will take charge of Sunday's Old Firm clash, said: "Aberdeen fans send me dead rats in the post and that kind of stuff.

"Every now and again, you get that kind of thing, especially from Dons fans.

"After one game against Rangers or Celtic, some Aberdeen fans sent me chicken giblets."

McCurry took charge of his first Celtic-Rangers game in 2003, but it was not just the passion of the Old Firm encounter that led to problems.

"I think it goes back to a Hearts-Aberdeen game I did once," he said.

"Right at the very end of the match, Aberdeen, who were 1-0 down, had the ball in the net, but the linesman called offside.

"The TV pictures proved it was 100% correct. But, at the time, the Aberdeen fans weren't too happy and I suppose they've never forgiven me.

"So you get the usual death threats and that sort of stuff.

"Once I even got a letter with a razor blade taped to the inside.

"The idea was I'd slice a couple of fingers off when I was opening it."

Hugh Dallas has also been the subject of abuse and McCurry revealed yobs also hurled concrete through his window on one occasion.

"I've had a coping stone put through the patio window when I was in the house and it landed about two feet from me," he said.

"It was after the game when Henrik Larsson broke his jaw in a collision with Livingston's Gus Bahoken.

"The Tuesday after that, I came back from training and was sitting down to watch TV with a plate of scrambled eggs on toast.

"But I didn't know a crowd of about 15 guys had gathered outside my house.

"I heard a couple of thuds and just thought it was kids playing out the front.

"So I picked up the remote to put the telly on mute and just then the patio window came crashing in.

"I went outside thinking it would just be a group of young kids and I wanted to grab one of them and call the police.

"But when I went out I was confronted by about 15 guys aged between about 27 to 40 shouting the usual Glasgow stuff: 'Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'.