[King_Henrik]

The Judas story was nothing but a publicity stunt by the organisers anyway. If the match is supposedly an "Auld Firm legends" fixture then why would someone like Judas be playing for either side in the first place?

He is certainly no Celtic legend, and he was only at Ibrox for 2 years. I'm a bit too young to remember the entire circumstances surrounding what happened, but it's not too hard to imagine the type of controversy it would have created at the time - and it has nothing to do with the tired old 'sectarian' tag - Judas was paraded in a Celtic jersey as our latest signing and then proceeded to join our bitter rivals only weeks later.

Any player around the world who did that would receive the same kind of bitterness as the Celtic fans have towards Judas, sort of the same feeling the Barca fans have towards Figo in the modern era, only much, much worse.

It's a football-related matter - end of story.

 

[King_Henrik]

This to me is exactly the reason why the ugliness that surrounds the old firm is never going to go away.

If you think that Judas appearing in an Auld Firm charity match is going to stop 50,000 of 'the people' singing about being up to their knees in fenian blood every week then you bring new meaning to the word naive.

The charity wouldn't have suffered from the boycott actually, the idea was to donate whatever sum the charity were looking for in gate receipts but to stay away from the actual match itself.

We don't want him to be associated with The Celtic ever again after his treacherous actions, if a proposed boycott was needed to ram home that point to him then i'm glad its worked.

That's the end of the matter as far as i'm concerned.

 

[King_Henrik]

What he did was no different to Alfie Conn.

Sure there are fans who won't have forgiven him for playing for Celtic but the majority don't seem too bothered anymore - they might not like what he did but they don't hate him much and Conn has since been back at Ibrox and paraded on the pitch with the rest of the ECWC winners and indeed works (or worked?) behind the bar in probably the most well known Rangers pub in Glasgow.

With Mo Johnston while the football rivalry element has played an important part in the hatred towards him the "treachery" has a religious element too. Basically there are some bigots amongst the Celtic support who hate the thought of Scottish Catholics playing for Rangers every bit as much as some bigots did/do in the Rangers support. It's seen as a sell out or whatever and that is why the level of hatred towards him is still so high IMO. Plus the fact that he represents the removal of the signing policy means the hatred towards him is extra bad.

Judging by the amount of anti-Catholic songs still sung to this day by the Rangers support then there would have been a lot more people among your own who had a problem with a RC Catholic signing for Rangers than those from the other side who had a problem with the issue.

As i said, fans of any club around the world would have hated Johnstone for his actions. It's a football-related issue to Celtic fans, and it always will be. Those who supposedly hate him for sectarian issues are doing so for no particular reason, because the anti-Catholic songs are still as prevalent among the Rangers support today as they were before Judas joined them.

 

[King_Henrik]

I agree it's not exactly unique for fans to hate players for such a thing but generally the level of hatred would dissipate over time if it was just a "football-related issue". Michael Laudrup, Bernd Schuster, Christian Panucci, Giuseppe Meazza, Roberto Baggio etc etc....There are many players who have played for both sides of a heated rivalry and who haven't had to put up with the levels of hatred that Johnston has had to for nearly 15 years since he left Rangers.

(btw I don't expect Celtic fans to like him or respect him - i wouldn't if it was an ex-Rangers player who did a similiar thing - i'm talking about the level of dislike and hate that he still attracts, which is out of proportion to what he did if it was just a "football related issue")

It's not about him playing or Rangers though, it's the manner in which he signed for them only weeks after his infamous "Celtic are the only club i ever wanted to play for" statement while he was being paraded around Celtic Park wearing the Hoops after supposedly being OUR new signing!

 

[King_Henrik]

For some Celtic fans the signing of Johnston and what he represented as the symbol of the signing policy being broken was the worse thing that could have happened. Not only did they lose out on Johnston but it also took away a plank to beat Rangers with, which for some, was of more importance than the ending of the policy.

Some of them single out Scottish Catholics for abuse if they play for Rangers. Members on here have attempted to justify this in the past for whatever reason, but the fact remains is that players like Neil McCann or Chris Burke have been singled out for extra abuse solely for religious reasons.

So you're saying that Celtic fans are all anti-Roman Catholic bigots then?

I'm afraid there's only one club who have the dishonour of that particular mantle in Scotland.

 

[King_Henrik]

No.

I said some Celtic fans single out Scottish Catholics who play (or have played) for Rangers players for extra abuse. Are you saying that Neil McCann or Chris Burke have not been not singled out because of what religious background they are perceived to come from (or "belong" to)?

I'd have thought that 50,000 of their own supporters singing about being up to their knees in their blood because they happen to be Catholics would be a lot more offensive to the Rangers players in question personally.

 

[King_Henrik]

That doesn't really answer my question:

Have Neil McCann or Chris Burke been singled out by Celtic fans because of what religious background they are perceived to belong to?

I think this question can be answered without a "youse are worser" sort of response

I have no idea as to the reason why they've been singled out, and neither do you.

I always assumed it was because they were self-confessed Celtic fans before joining our rivals. Are the likes of Kyriakos, Novo, Vignal et al singled out for their perceived religious background as well then?

 

[King_Henrik]

Judging by several of your posts it seems you have some obsession with blood. What are you, a vampire?

Yes, but don't tell anyone, it's a secret.