Broken Wing wrote:He's a Catholic from Norn Iron in charge of the Queen's Celtic. That's probably enough for some nutters.
Baws - it's because he is an arsehole. Neither his religion nor his nationality come into it.
This whole season, he has blamed everybody and everything for Celtic defeats except himself or his players, he has driven 2 officials out of the game, almost singlehandedly made the referee's go on strike (therby making him hated by fans of the 30 SFL clubs who had games cancelled and lost out financially - many of whom don't give a f*ck about the Old firm), Had nothing but praise for his own clubs fans - even when they are chanting "PIRA", which he sees nothing wrong with, and is alledged to have racially abused Rangers players. And thats just the ones I can remember right now (there are a lot more - some have already been mentioned)
I know a few people that have met him in the west end, and say the guy just acts like a tw@t. Infact, one Aberdeen fan's (Aberdeen hate Rangers far more than Celtic, for whom their rivalry is mainly sporting) comment was "It's clear to see why he was assulted in Ashton Lane a few years ago". Oh yeah, and I also know several Celtic fans who have told me on more than one occassion this season that they are "embarrased he is managing their club".
Of course, none of that makes it acceptable to send him mail bombs, but to suggest it is all because he is an Irish catholic is just plain wrong. Afterall, if that was the reason, why do most Rangers fans have nothing but respect for Martin O'Neil? Would it perhaps be because he behaved like the decent man he is?
Sauvignon Blank wrote:
You see, Mr Lennon is affectionately known as a 'wee taig'. A derogatory term for a Northern Irish Catholic. The little ginger fella had the temerity to play for Northern Ireland but actually would have preferred to play for his country 'Ireland', not some manufactured little statelets' team, whose following/supporters (ahem) are sectarian. This didn't go down well with the orange bigots supporting Linfield, Glentoran, Portadown and in particular Rangers. It is important to them that no 'wee-Taig' rise above his station or entertain delusions of grandeur. Hence the 'Hang-Mans' noose graffiti around the Lisburn area at the time (his home). His father spoke of how he'd be driving to and from the town and work daily to see this graffiti about his son everywhere.
Not a nice thing to endure.
Now, other notable catholics have played for the North but have not attracted the same attention e.g Martin O'Neill and Pat Jennings. The reason for this is a moot point but essentially boils down to the fact already mentioned on this thread that Neil Lennon unlike the aforementioned is no shrinking voilet, no passive 'wee taig', and will stand up for himself, his religion, beliefs and community. He makes no apologies for being a Northern Catholic who had aspirations to play for Ireland and Celtic. You see, he's a bit too 'Feniany' for some unfortunately. Incurring the wrath of orange/loyalist bigots usually means bullets in the post, an almost weekly occurrence for Celtic Fc players from the North. McCourt gets them regularly.
In my opinion he should not be walking out to the centre circle at Ibrox and applauding his fans, then cup his ears to the Rangers Fans, but then again a certain Glaswegian who played at Ibrox has been doing this for years, and recieved a knighthood for his endeavours.
There is sectarianism on both sides of the community , infesting more than 2 teams in Scotland, no question. But to say it is in equal measure is wildly inaccurate and downright ignorant.
Rangers and Hearts players don't recieve bullets and parcel bombs in their daily mail. Their players children don't require Police protection.
I actually burst out laughing at the bit in bold!
The catholic club you are thinking of there is hibs - Celtic are every bit as bad as Rangers and Hearts. The Hearts v Celtic game a few weeks ago (which I think is what started this thread?) was awful, but Celtic were just as bad as the home fans - Chanting "Oh, ah up the 'ra" as the teams walked out isn't a great way to start, and they continued to chant support for terrorist organisations throught the game, before responding to the Lennon/fan incident by hurling coins at ballboys and putting 5 stewards in hospital. Strangely, that was never headline news even over here though...
As for Rangers players not recieving bullets - Fernado Ricksen did, and other players have recieved death threats, whilst one (can't remember who, of the top of my head) was assulted on the pitch by a Celtic fan. And you are trying to tell me it's only Rangers and Hearts with a problem?
Celtic are the ones with the real problem - they can't admit they have one! At least Rangers recognise the issue and have made a half-hearted attempt to stamp it out. There was a BBC program last week that had some telling stats on it - over the last 6 seasons, Rangers have banned around 70 people per season for sectarian singing. Celtic have banned 1 per season.
kermischocolate wrote:West Brit wrote:The entire soccer-watching community of Scotland are scum?
Living in Glasgow I can say pretty much, yeah. Especially when it comes to the Old Firm.
The way football supporters in general act before, during and after games is generally embarrassing anyway never mind all the Sectarian nonsense that goes on over here.
I disagree entirely!
Yes, alot of OF supporters are arseholes - but there are also a lot of decent guys who just want to support the team their fathers supported, and who don't partake in the sectarian cr@p. Unfortunatly they are pretty much lost in the crowd at Ibrox/Parkhead, but they make up the vast majority at most football grounds around the country every week, and indeed almost the entire Scotland support at Hampden. Yes you see some people who have had a bit too much to drink - but nothing that I haven't seen at rugby before now either...
Final thought on the subject: Whilst there is undoubtably serious problems in Scottish football (particularly the 4 'religious' clubs), it isn't going to change any time soon for one simple reason - the OF don't want it to change.
If you take away the sectarian cr@p, what is left of Scottish football? It's only reedeming feature right now is that it boasts one of the fiercest derbies in the world, and that makes it appealing to Sky. Take that derby away (by removing the sectarian cr@p, it becomes just like any other derby), and Sky wont be interested in the rights, and no-one outside of Scotland will give a feck about our league. If thats what it takes, then IMO that unfortunate, but we need to do it anyway. But the OF aren't going to vote for it, and the OF pretty much run Scottish football
If proper penalties were implemented (ground closures and points deductions), the problem could be gone in a season.
