Celtic FC Scarf

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Dalglish is a huge part of the bond between the two clubs and cannot be underestimated in my opinion.” Beside You’ll Never Walk Alone, ‘The Fields of Athenry’ is the other notable tune that the clubs share. To this day I will still wear a scarf on match days. Maybe it’s a psychological thing that I was once forbidden from possessing one and therefore I don’t want to break the habit. I find it comforting and in winter it serves a practical purpose to help keep me warm. There are few more impressive sights than Celtic fans in full chorus singing You’ll never walk alone, so it’s always handy for that, as it certainly adds to the spectacle when all the scarves are held aloft, in unison, to such spectacular effect.

Every club has its devoted supporters who ensure their figurative songbook is kept alive, but the numbers listed are largely a collection of the same short tunes with different words, depending on the club you support. The fan cultures encompassing each club, which form the basis for these emotional atmospheres, share similarities too. As a result of deep poverty and the potato famine of 1845-1849, around one and a half million Irish, made up of both Catholics and Protestants, travelled to Liverpool. Celtic and Liverpool football may only meet on the pitch once in a blue moon, but the common values of their supporters cross paths far more regularly. There are a variety of reasons for that. For me, who has a father who grew up in Ibrox, Dalglish was the deciding factor and once you’ve chosen, that’s it. My mates growing up were all blue, they accepted it, but their parents were less understanding.”

Many Liverpudlians don’t necessarily identify with ‘Englishness’ and the London-centric state. In 1999, Glaswegian activist, Margaret Simey, even said: “The magic of Liverpool is that it isn’t England.” Fergo, who came up with the Liverpool version, said: “We played at Celtic, in I think a testimonial and it was getting belted out. Many even feel that there is no association between Celtic and Liverpool but there will always be mutual respect between the two, and scarves embroidered with the names of both clubs will continue to be sold.

There are still ongoing sectarian splits but gone are the days when Rangers would refuse to sign players because they heralded from a Catholic family. From that moment onwards, there was always a strong bond between Celtic and Liverpool. Anything in the past paled into insignificance. Every single moment afterwards, Celtic fans were fantastic,” the university professor added.Andrew Murdoch is an ardent Celtic supporter who writes for Not The View, a prominent fanzine. He said: “While Celtic has very strong Catholic roots, the support is much more varied. I’m not Catholic and the guys I go to the games with for the past 30 years are probably majority Protestant, something we only discovered about two-three years after we had all met up! Instead of identifying as one religion or another, people now started to feel civic pride more intensely. By percentage, the Archdiocese of Liverpool is the by far the most Catholic part of England, Scotland or Wales, even dwarfing Glasgow’s numbers. It’s only a small part of it, but the strong Irish Catholic presence on Merseyside has fed into the disdain that some right-winger factions seem to have for Liverpool. Liverpool lost the match with Reds captain Ron Yeats scoring an unfortunate own goal in extra time.

Beer bottles were brought into the stadium and thrown towards the pitch, forcing Liverpool keeper Tommy Lawrence to move to the edge of his penalty area. One of the flying glass bottles hit a young Liverpool fan who was standing in the front row. He was badly injured. I think I was seven at the time and I think a large section of the Celtic support, especially my age, share my view but not all. I know quite a few Celtic fans who prefer Man Utd and also some Everton to a lesser extent. There are quite a few of the older generation who prefer Man United to Liverpool. As well the club boasting an international pedigree, Manchester also has more Irish heritage than most places in England and, traditionally, shares analogous socialistic values with Glasgow. Nowadays, you are far more likely to encounter an Irish tricolour on the Kop than a Union flag, which is a million miles from the ’70s when British flags were commonplace amongst Liverpool fans on European adventures.Liverpool had beaten Standard Liege, Budapest Honvéd and a strong Juventus team to reach the semis. They would be facing Celtic for the first time in the club’s history. A solitary home goal, scored by the legendary outside left, Bobby Lennox, left Shankly’s side with work to do in the return leg at Anfield. Ewan MacColl, the writer of the ballad, was born in Manchester to Scottish parents and was a Labour activist.