The Old Firm

[Spector]

The Celtic - Rangers derby is pretty unique in world football, and I remember Van Gaal talking to the press after being at Celtic's legendary 6-2 slaughtering of Rangers back in 2000 when he said, "I think Rangers versus Celtic is the biggest derby game in the world."

Dick Advocaat also struggled to come to terms with the intensity of hatred between the two sides - he had been interested in buying one of Celtic's players, but was told in no uncertain terms that it was impossible. He said he couldn't understand that Celtic players wouldn't play for Rangers when Real Madrid players could switch sides and go to Barcelona. Kenny Miller did it, but he was never a regular at Rangers or Celtic, and was maybe seen as a kind of outsider to the whole thing. Mo Johnston is the best example - what that guy went through twenty years ago when he switched sides was unbelievable.

World Soccer magazine voted Celtic v Rangers as the third biggest derby on earth. I think we can all guess what came first

 

[Poor_Sunyol]

Glasgow is in the west of Scotland.

Glasgow is in the south of Scotland. You couldn't really call it the West of Scotland because there is nothing there. It is only 50 miles from Edinburgh which you wouldn't call the East of Scotland would you.

 

[Cule Angles]

But England's west country is in the south and it's still called the west!

 

[Super Pippo]

West and East? You've got your geography all mixed up by the sounds of it. For sure the Old Firm derby is one of the biggest in football, but you are absolutely right that it is diluted somewhat by the amount of times they play each other and the fact that the Scottish league is very poor but contrary to what Beast says, they do play good football in Scotland. They might not be the most gifted players in the world but they do try and play the game the right way.

I would consider it that way as well, but Scots themselves divide into West or East coast, you notice it alot in the accents. I could understand Edinburgh, St Andrews, Aberdeen very well, but couldn't understand people from Glasgow and the West good at all, even though Glasgow is 1/4 the distance from Edinburgh as Aberdeen, the accent/culture is much more different I think. The Scottish people here can of course comment better than I though.

As for their football, I didn't care for it myself, it didn't seem to have much technique or grace, infact it was often a long ball game in the few matches I went to. They do play with alot of passion though, which I admired, but can't say I found it entertaining, IMO.

My praise is for their national side, not in football terms, but the fans. I went to the games vs Azzurri, their national stadium has the feel of a club side in Italia, so loud, great atmosphere. To be honest guys, that is what you should take pride in and present to the world, not the clashes between these clubs, because really its not as unique as you think, pretty much every league in the world has two clubs that hate each other for some reason.

 

[Hamzah]

you'll find that quite a few celtic/rangers fans don't care for the national team, as they just injure our players. fans from the east coast or smaller teams care more for it.

doesn't mean to say there aren't passionate scotland supporters who support celtic/rangers though.

 

[Super Pippo]

Not a surprise I guess, you see in the Celtic stadium many flags of Ireland, in Rangers the England one, really these clubs are not Scottish, all the more reason to talk more about your NT I think.

 

[Hamzah]

they are scottish, but just find themselves superior to the national team. you could compare it to barca's attitude, although the reasons are different.

it is only a section of the support though, those who are proud to be british and those with irish roots. the fans are very passionate like all supporters from the UK. they always sing and fill out the ground even if playing shit teams like Kilmarnock.

 

[henriklarsson7]

they are scottish, but just find themselves superior to the national team. you could compare it to barca's attitude, although the reasons are different.

it is only a section of the support though, those who are proud to be british and those with irish roots. the fans are very passionate like all supporters from the UK. they always sing and fill out the ground even if playing shit teams like Kilmarnock.

exactly m8, wht english teams fans would pay 30+ pounds to watch dire football against the likes of hamilton and killie week in, week out. they would just lose interest but you will find more passionate real football fans in scotland

 

[Hamzah]

don't forget the ground has a capacity of 60,000 or around about 50,000 in the huns case.

 

[blueduck]

exactly m8, wht english teams fans would pay 30+ pounds to watch dire football against the likes of hamilton and killie week in, week out. they would just lose interest but you will find more passionate real football fans in scotland

Bollocks. How come the other grounds in scotland are barely full ?

 

[Hamzah]

here we go again...

i was talking about celtic/rangers. your argument is with henrik. i;m out of this one

 

[Super Pippo]

Bollocks. How come the other grounds in scotland are barely full ?

To be fair, I was not allowed to go to games outside Glasgow involving Old Firm clubs because they only allow season ticket holders to stop a home game becoming filled with Celtic/Rangers fans, such is the support across the country.

 

[blueduck]

I don't mean their games against Rangers or Celtic, I mean in general.

 

[Cule Angles]

exactly m8, wht english teams fans would pay 30+ pounds to watch dire football against the likes of hamilton and killie week in, week out. they would just lose interest but you will find more passionate real football fans in scotland

The second tier of English football has one of the highest attendance records in Europe, higher than the SPL, Serie A and other top divisions.

 

[blueduck]

If you take out Celtic v Rangers, the rest of the leagues average attendances are more like league 1 attendances (maybe even league 2).

And there's about a third as many clubs to support ffs.