The Old Firm IV: A Neutral’s Take

By: JT | October 19th, 2007

When I was traveling through Spain this spring, the conversations I had with locals at tavernas inevitably led to football. It struck me that these folks supported their local teams to the death, but also had insightful and strong opinions when it came to the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

I was told that everyone has a favorite between the two, even if they are season ticket holders for Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna, or Espanyol. I realized that these opinions probably have their roots in politics, specifically the way that certain ideas lined up against each other in the Civil War that took place only 70 years ago, and certain segments of society and culture are still struggling to recover from.

So as an American and Celtic supporter, I wondered what people outside of the Glasgow cauldron think about the Old Firm rivalry. There are certainly ethnic and political affiliations that could lead a neutral to lean one way or the other, just like in Spain. Or they could hate the Old Firm or one of the two clubs just because. But I couldn’t be sure.

I asked The Offside’s resident Scot and Inverness Caledonian Thistle fan Ian Rose to write a little about what people around the country outside of Glasgow think about the derby, the rivalry, and all the madness surrounding it. His thoughts:

“As far as I’ve seen it, the Old Firm derbies are a big deal with neutrals more for who loses than who wins. There are Old Firm fans in every decent-sized town in Scotland, and so there’s always an audience anyway, and neutral football fans will watch whatever big game is coming on, but I don’t think anyone in Scotland is completely neutral about the Old Firm derby.

Most people I know who are fans of other clubs around Scotland have one or the other of the Glasgow sides that they prefer, or more truthfully, one they dislike more. For example, there is a well-known and mutual dislike between Rangers and Aberdeen fans, and so I imagine a lot of Dons fans are on Celtic’s side, even though for many of them, Celtic might be their second least favorite team in Scotland.

A lot of neutral fans in Scotland resent the Old Firm, not only for their absolute domination of the SPL, but for what is seen as blatant favoritism shown to them by officials, and the arrogance of some of their fans. I know a lot of fans of other SPL clubs that really resent the fact that neighbors and friends they grew up with in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, or Dundee decided later in life to be Hoops or Rangers fans. They see it as bandwagon behavior, as well as betrayal of your home side, and I happen to agree, but that’s off the point.

Basically, it seems to me that a lot of neutral fans watch the derby hoping whichever Old Firm side they are currently most angry with loses. The funny thing is that any resentment or dislike from neutrals seems to be really limited to clubs, not players, partially because the national team is so overwhelmingly Old Firm. Most football fans in Scotland are national team supporters, and so they might scream about how they hate Rangers and want them to get bulldozed by Celtic, but then the next week, they’ll be chanting Kris Boyd’s name in support at Hampden.

The derby is important to neutrals, but not nearly as important as it is to Glasgow fans. There are certainly a share of Rangers and Celtic fans that put winning the derbies above winning a Cup, or even maybe above winning the league. It’s insane. Again, I think that most neutrals are rooting against the Old Firm side that most recently pissed them off.”