Stan Collymore · @StanCollymore
28th Jan 2015 from TwitLonger
My Celtic and Rangers thing...
Over the last few months I've had a lot of stick from Rangers fans after talking about their club, being critical and sometimes poking a little fun at what even they must see as quite an extraordinary situation which I'm sure makes them laugh and cry in equal measure.
It's usually followed with name calling which is fine, references to "Ally pumped ya burd" which I find genuinely hilarious and more exotic Roman Catholic slurs (I'm Church of England) .
Old clips of an interview at Ibrox I did (went to watch Rangers v St Johnstone when Gazza/Coisty were there) are doing a roaring trade on the retweet circuit, as it rightly suggested at the time that I had a soft spot for the club going back to early teens.
So why the love in for Celtic Football Club now?
Well, my mate, a Rangers fan , taught me the sash as a kid, extolled the virtues of being British and proud, and that Rangers Football Club were a beacon of this pride.
And then I started to read, learn for myself the history of the club, my Britishness, Celtic and came to a swift, quite embarrassing conclusion.
There is very little (Poppy tribute aside, as my family faught for my freedom of speech and my nation) to celebrate about Rangers in my opinion. Virtual sporting apartheid for many years, not allowing one part of the community to play for them was quite frankly a disgrace, and that alone, knowing all about how one group of people look down on another, would have been enough to move on from those Rangers "supporting " days.
Then I learned of very close links historically between some Rangers supporters and right wing nutters who follow Chelsea, who themselves extols the virtues of an anti black, anti immigrant, anti inclusion mantra. Not for me thanks!
But why actively then choose a fondness for Celtic?
A club founded by immigrants, actively encourages immigrants in its support ( don't worry, wankers monkey chanting Mark Walters are wankers, and I'm convinced in my own mind, from what I've seen that Celtic FC is way more inclusive than not,I'm not stupid). Is actively anti fascist an has embraced Catholic and Protestant footballers from year dot. In other words, a club who would have embraced my religion merely as a sportsman, not the disgusting apartheid that, if I were a Roman Catholic footballer wouldn't have allowed me in the 70's to wear a blue football shirt.
I don not support the IRA , so anyone trying that one can with respect fuck off, I'm a proud English Republican, and that's where my Republican fervour lies, a Royal family is a relic of yesteryear, and again yesteryear rather than a bright tomorrow seems to be celebrated rather too much for my liking at Rangers.
I'll take stick for this and that's fine. I respect Rangers football club achievements, the many fine players they've had and the wonderful support given to Fernando Ricksen last week was truly touching.
But I don't like what Rangers stood for and in many ways continue to stand for, I feel closer and more aligned to what Celtic Football Club stand for.
I support neither, I support Aston Villa Football Club, but I've been asked the question many times on Twitter I decided to address it.
Stan ????