Holy fcuk!
There needs to come a time when we do call out the term ‘old firm’. Yes, it died in 2012 in any event, but this narrative of us being as bad as them has to be called out and ended.
We are a club that was set up for all. There have been exceptions to this over the years, as there is with every club, where standards have slipped or the likes. Whereas the huns were set up to be sectarian and have done this through the years, most famously with their anti catholic policy which the old club employed. Lately their fans objection to the BLM movement. We as an organisation are unlike them in terms of equal rights.
Their old organisation were cheats. They systemically used an illegal tax scheme to ensure they got every financial advantage going. Celtic had one player on such a scheme as he was transferred over from another contract (Juninho/middlesborough) and rectified that at the earliest opportunity. We as a club are not cheats, whereas their old club was. If anyone genuinely believes they would not cheat when it comes to covid protocols, well... there is nowhere they would not stoop.
The events of late with regards to their fans breaching covid should further distance us from the ‘old firm’ thing. We had fans turn up at the ground, in the low 100s, to protest Lennon or to celebrate 9iar ,4x treble. In the main, they were condemned by fellow fans. Our club went on a, totally legal, trip to Dubai. Whilst legal, it was totally condemned by fans. Those absolute reprobates went out, with the encouragement of their players and management, to party. Assaulting police, wink at stadiums(so so weird), wrecking memorial benches and trashing the city. Their supporters and pundits say that you have to excuse it in the circumstance, when the circumstance is a global pandemic.
The shame game where the offensive football act or whatever it was called brought in - 11 arrests, all of which to rangers supporters, in a match they had three people sent off which included a player manhandling a ref and their player confronting our manager. This was the same week a Manchester derby happened where there were 29 arrests, and no such order brought in in England.
They trashed Manchester, Barcelona twice, Glasgow recently. All while we get praised in the same places and won fan awards for our behaviour in Seville.
No other team gets banded in with another like we do with them. Is it geography? If so, why are Patrick thistle fans not included? It’s certainly not because of what the clubs stand for because they couldn’t be further apart. Nobody gets banded in with Millwall when they are racist idiots, because of some rivalry. If Manchester United fans do anything bad, nobody comes out and says what are those Manchester City fans, or Liverpool fans, like.
It is time that people come out and just say it how it is. If the game is moved, it’s not because ‘old firm’ fans can’t behave. It’s because the huns cannot behave and their clubs hierarchy will never condemn them because it will mean condemning the majority of the support, not the minority that exists with every club.
It’s time this term wasn’t just ignored by the club, but actively looked to distance from it. No more guilt by... I was going to write association... but there is no association with these reprobates.