Keane the patriot had no problem selling out to Walkers Crisps to run around Temple Bar dressed as a leprechaun.*
[SIZE=â1â]*This is on behalf of NCC[/SIZE]
No matter how much you hate Keane surely you can have grudging respect as an Irishman that he treated an obvious supporter of an appalling set of bastards like the UVF with such disdain.
This isnât a Celtic v Rangers thing as Iâve never heard of Keane hating people like Walter Smith or other ex Rangers men in this manner.
Itâs obviously because he was a known UVF supporter. This went beyond singing songs and the like too, he attended fundraisers and as someone said wore a black armband when Billy Wright died.
Canât remember any Celtic player ever coming out so obviously in his support of the IRA either by the way.
Hereâs more from his book. Is his nickname goalie or did no one know the cunts name?
McClaren took me around and introduced me to the squad, player by player. Here I was in the inner sanctum of the biggest club on the planet.
Gary and Phil Nevilleâs dad is called Neville Neville. He was a lovely man Iâd played cricket against in my summers growing up in Lancashire.
As a result I knew the family and that was an ice-breaker. And for all of Keaneâs fury at my arrival, the rest of the dressing room respected me and accepted me right away.
Jaap Stam changed next to me each morning. He was a huge man, imposing, and some player. He was brilliant with me and helped me through it.
Paul Scholes comes from Middleton, where I grew up, so we also had a bond.
Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes - they are technicians of football, craftsmen of their trade.
Beckham has earned every penny he has now because he is an unbelievably dedicated athlete.
I was his guinea pig on that training ground every morning.
Weâd stay behind after the session had finished, and heâd practise his free kicks with me in between the sticks.
I loved it in the morning when heâd pop his head in after training and say: âRight, Goalie, letâs go.â He would stick a wall of plastic defenders in front of him, set down his 30 balls and we were off. Sir Alex had to force him to take days off. I loved working with the guy.
Beckham came through the youth ranks with Giggs, Scholes and the Neville brothers, and there was a strong bond between them.
Giggs was the best crosser of a ball while running that I had ever seen - moving at pace and swirling over a killer centre. But Scholes was the real diamond amongst them, the baby-faced assassin.
He was a man of few words, but he was well worth listening to when he did crack a sentence or two.
The clock had been ticking down on me at Motherwell. When I had three months of my contract left, they let it be known that I wouldnât be offered another one. I was knackered.
Miriam and I were together at the time and she was driving me to training one day when my phone rang. Coisty.
It was 9.30am and I thought he must be coming in from a night on the batter. Ally never phones you in the morning.
We blethered, and I shrugged it off and went into training.
Then at lunchtime on the way home the phone rang again. Walter Smith. He was manager of Everton at the time and warned me to keep my phone on because someone was going to ring me.
âWhat is it, gaffer? You got a job for me?â I asked. âJust keep your fg phone on," he growled.
Now I was starting to wonder what was going on. I suspected I was about to get the p taken out of me.
Two minutes later, the phone rang again. âGoalie, itâs Alex Ferguson here. Weâve got Bayern Munich on Wednesday and Liverpool at the weekend. Barthez is injured and Raimond van der Gouw is struggling. I need you to come down on loan until the end of the season.â
I said: "Coisty, f* offâ. And put the phone down. Ally could do Sir Alex perfectly. I wasnât falling for that old one.
The phone rang again and I told Miriam to answer it this time.
âMiriam, this is Alex Ferguson, and you can tell that fat b*****d heâs got ten seconds to say aye or naw.â
It really was him. I thought I was dreaming.
Iâd been playing football for 20 years, and there had been many great moments.
But I donât think many come close to that call from Sir Alex Ferguson.
[quote=âlarryduffâ]Well there is a huge difference. Celtic fans sing about Irish heritage and history as they are of Irish descent themselves or born in Ireland. Rangers fans sing about fenian blood, boo black players and any Irish players.
Educate yourself a bit wtb before making these sweeping statements. .[/quote]
What about all the Rangers players that have been continually booed by morons in Landsdown Road when on International duty with their Countries? Using your logic that makes Irish fans the biggest bigots of all.
That is incredible - and even more incredible given your stance on certain issues.
The facts are that Celtic have never been bigotted. They have no history in it. To claim that the actions of a few fans is somehow representative of the core of the club is completely wrong, and uneducated.
I am not a Celtic fan by the way but I respect them and what they are about.
I have no problem with Rangers expressing their Unionism. I do have a problem with their sectarian signing policy, their booing of black players and Irish players, singing about Aiden McGeady to go home to Ireland and booing all Irish players who dare to play in Ibrox. That isnât Unionism though its bigotry.
[quote=âlarryduffâ]Well there is a huge difference. Celtic fans sing about Irish heritage and history as they are of Irish descent themselves or born in Ireland. Rangers fans sing about fenian blood, boo black players and any Irish players.
Educate yourself a bit wtb before making these sweeping statements. You might not care about Irish history or Irish nationalism but some people do and the fact they were born outside of this country shouldnât prevent them from expressing it.[/quote]
How in the name of thatâs holy can you delude yourself to the degree that you donât think Celticâs âexpressionâ of their Irish identity isnât going to offend other people in the country, which isnât Ireland by the way. Itâs Scotland. And while racism is unacceptable behaviour no matter where it comes from, Celticâs connections with Irish rebel lore is equally as offensive to Rangerâs fans. How do Celtic fans not understand this?
Open to all traditions? Open to all traditions except British nationalism you mean. And thatâs quite an important one to some British people by the look of it.
Would be interested to hear tipptops or WTB come up with any examples of when Celtic club or fans have engaged in behaviour similar to this?
[quote=âWatch The Breakâ]How in the name of thatâs holy can you delude yourself to the degree that you donât think Celticâs âexpressionâ of their Irish identity isnât going to offend other people in the country, which isnât Ireland by the way. Itâs Scotland. And while racism is unacceptable behaviour no matter where it comes from, Celticâs connections with Irish rebel lore is equally as offensive to Rangerâs fans. How do Celtic fans not understand this?
Open to all traditions? Open to all traditions except British nationalism you mean. And thatâs quite an important one to some British people by the look of it.[/quote]
British nationalism?
The same British nationalism that sings God Save the Queen and send her home victorious?
The same British nationalism that has committed some of the most terrible acts in this country?
The same British nationalism that plundered and colonised for years and still sing about it?
Anyway - whatâs to say that they are not open to it?
On the MacGeady thing the lad is Scottish the Rangers boys are pissed off because he turned his back on their country. Fair nough if you ask me
[quote=âWatch The Breakâ]How in the name of thatâs holy can you delude yourself to the degree that you donât think Celticâs âexpressionâ of their Irish identity isnât going to offend other people in the country, which isnât Ireland by the way. Itâs Scotland. And while racism is unacceptable behaviour no matter where it comes from, Celticâs connections with Irish rebel lore is equally as offensive to Rangerâs fans. How do Celtic fans not understand this?
Open to all traditions? Open to all traditions except British nationalism you mean. And thatâs quite an important one to some British people by the look of it.[/quote]
No Celtic fans singing about a united Ireland, emmigration etc isnât bigoted. Its a political or social viewpoint which they are entitled to hold and express. People might disagree with it but it isnât done in a sectarian way. I might not like Northern Irish or English fans singing Rule Britania etc but there is a difference between that and singing about being up to our knees in fenian blood which Rangers fans do. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
Respect you on a lot of issues wtb but you clearly have no idea what your talking about here.
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]British nationalism?
The same British nationalism that sings God Save the Queen and send her home victorious?
The same British nationalism that has committed some of the most terrible acts in this country?
The same British nationalism that plundered and colonised for years and still sing about it?
Fair fucks to them for singing against it I say.[/quote]
Yeah, thatâs what I was thinking too. Find it hard to understand how any Irish fella who is in the slightest bit nationalist would have just as much problem with Celtic songs etc as Rangers ones.
Others might (genuinely seems to me that Rangers are far worse to be honest), but canât see how an Irish fella would.
Yeah, wouldnât have a massive problem with that either. Although the abuse does tend to take sectarian form Iâd say.
Celtic F.C refusing to join the entire cast of Football clubs in Britain when having the minutes silence for the dead heroes of WW1 & WW2 is a classic example of bigotry at play. Imagine that - the only ground in the entire Country where they had no minutes silence. Disgrace.
[quote=âlarryduffâ]No Celtic fans singing about a united Ireland, emmigration etc isnât bigoted. Its a political or social viewpoint which they are entitled to hold and express. People might disagree with it but it isnât done in a sectarian way. I might not like Northern Irish or English fans singing Rule Britania etc but there is a difference between that and singing about being up to our knees in fenian blood which Rangers fans do. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
Respect you on a lot of issues wtb but you clearly have no idea what your talking about here.[/quote]
Have been meaning to ask you about this but would a lot of Ulster rugby fans not engage in rangersesque behaviour larry?
I met a bunch of them singing billy boys etc over in australia one time and I would have thought rugby in Ulster would have just as much of a bigotted reputation, in an albeit more middle class so less in your face way, as Rangers.
Thought they wore the poppy last year?
Good man TT.
You are actually attempting a wind up and have got it completely arseways.
Celtic wore poppies last season on their shirts which is something a lot of Celtic supporters were (rightly) diappointed over.
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]Good man TT.
You are actually attempting a wind up and have got it completely arseways.
Celtic wore poppies last season on their shirts which is something a lot of Celtic supporters were (rightly) diappointed over.[/quote]
Check your facts - Celtic refused to have the minutes silence. This was a decision taken at boardroom level.
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]Good man TT.
You are actually attempting a wind up and have got it completely arseways.
Celtic wore poppies last season on their shirts which is something a lot of Celtic supporters were (rightly) diappointed over.[/quote]
Bigots
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]British nationalism?
The same British nationalism that sings God Save the Queen and send her home victorious?
The same British nationalism that has committed some of the most terrible acts in this country?
The same British nationalism that plundered and colonised for years and still sing about it?
[/quote]
Thatâs exactly the point! There you have just defined a nationalist identity in purely negative terms, which is EXACTLY how any nationalist identity will appear to those who are not part of it.
How do you think Irish nationalism comes across to Scottich people, or people who identify themselves as British? Negatively. And when they sing songs about the IRA it only reinforces it. Celticâs constant nationalist outlook is equally as offensive to them as British nationalism is to you. Because thatâs what nationalism does, itâs primary purpose is to band people together in hatred of something else and throughout Irish history that thing has been Britain.
[quote=âlarryduffâ]No Celtic fans singing about a united Ireland, emmigration etc isnât bigoted. Its a political or social viewpoint which they are entitled to hold and express. People might disagree with it but it isnât done in a sectarian way. I might not like Northern Irish or English fans singing Rule Britania etc but there is a difference between that and singing about being up to our knees in fenian blood which Rangers fans do. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
Respect you on a lot of issues wtb but you clearly have no idea what your talking about here.[/quote]
How are we expected to discount the Celtic/IRA connection in this discussion? Because itâs convenient. Not a good enough argument. Itâs very easy to be honest about distasteful aspects of the other sides culture.