Worst Case Scenario: Lenny Leaves. What then?

I was in Bonnyrig a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of Hibees singing the rebels.

Hearts fans are right up there in bigotry with Rangers fans, what I have experienced of them.

And yes I have worked in Edinburgh. There is no way you are going to persuade me any different, my own life experience tells me that it's simply not true

 

sectarianism is rife through here. too. there is UDA and UVF spray painted everywhere. There are Orange marches in Fife, even in the wee town I live in which is only 3000 people. You wear a Celtic top in Glenrothes and you are more than likely to at least be verbally abused, unless your a six foot odd 17 stoner.

 

TBH if football ever led to a full on troubles type situation in Scotland then I would be finished with it because that is just so far away from a game of football its unreal. I would happily see Celtic and Rangers shut down forever and an end to two big teams representing sides of a nasty divide if it came to that. As long as people in parts of Scotland see themselves as two different groups with teams to representing those different groups then its always going to be in danger of it getting out of hand. That needs to end. The problem with the OF is that their strength is based on the divide and without it they would not be nearly as big.

 

I don't think you could count Celtic in that. You know the history, you know what we were founded for. We woul always have the fanbase outside of Scotland no matter what; Rangers fans decided to take on an identity that is the polar opposite of our own and that means they have a big fanbase within Scotland but almost none outside it.

If you took the bigotry out of Scottish Football I think you would find only one team coming out on top.

It'll never happen though, it's a society problem. Not a footballing one.

 

I can back him up on that, when I was about 15 I mind some hun that looked about 30 giving me abuse for wearing a Tim top.

I love Scotland , just not a lot of people in it

 

Fife has always been a bit funny that way though, the most sectarian county in eastern Scotland by a long shot with central belt type problems. It seems that wherever there have been coal mines, steel works etc there is a legacy of immigration and orange v green tensions.

 

I stay in Lochgelly, i'm originally from Ballingry, there is a lot of hatred through here because its a really split county, and every village is split aswell. Always bother after old firm games. Wouldn't stay anywhere else though

 

There is no doubt that Celtic represents the victims of sectarianism but I think regardless of that just the act of forming into two blocks still contributes to the problem. It will only ever stop when the people of Scotland are so intermarried and non-segregated (possibly will happen with the spread of aethism and the pointlessness of separate schooling) that people dont see themselves as different.

One thing I wish Celtic fans would come out of denial about is the ira songs etc. When people hear them it widens hatred towards us from just the extremists to ordinary folk who will never accept songs about paramilitaries fighting Britain. Its just not the right place for this stuff, couldnt be worse in fact.

It allows people to take the 'bad as each other' line. Rangers crime may be religious bigotry but Celtic fans do dabble in political stuff that is never going to be acceptable appropriate in Britain. To carry on doing this is really not helping things and IMO is part of an unhelpful misplaced defiance cult. There is no question that it often comes across as an aggressive two fingers to opposition fans. Until that ends we will share some of the guilt in perpetuating the divide and hatred. If we stopped doing this then we would be whiter than white and regain the moral high ground.

 

* no. have you seen the state of the irish league? * teams, * stadiums, no money.

 

I'd go with a full scale riot, descend on Castle Greyskull - bring your hazmat suits of course, and rip that * place down to the ground. If Neil Lennon leaves due to abuse from Rangers fans and Loyalists there will be murders on the streets, no doubt about that.

 

i agree that sectarianism is rife throughout fife but im fortunate enough to be in the six foot odd 17 stone category so havent suffered much of it myself. i have always thought sectarianism gets alot worse when it comes down to celtic being the better team than rangers. theirs no major flashpoint when rangers win the league - they are sore losers and ugly unwashed losers at that

 

On the subject of Fife, I am from Kirkcaldy, and it is a complete Hun backwater. Huge huge majority of the town supports Rangers, and got plenty of grief for going to the Catholic school in the town from the Hun kids as a teenager.

Fife is a cesspit.

I live in Dundee at the minute though and in the five years I've been here have never experienced or witnessed any sectarianism until last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, when the Huns were hurting. Was sad to see but not entirely unexpected.

 

I go to watch car racing in Fife and there are loads of football tops worn at the stadium, mostly blue ones. I've heard some comments between people of the blue persuasion, obviously they were more than happy when they were winning last season, looking forward to hearing their thoughts at the opening meeting this weekend though (less tops on display that's for sure).

 

If Neil Lennon ever has to leave Celtic because he is receiving death threats, bombs or bullets through his mail box then I honestly don't know if I could go on supporting a Scottish Football team anymore. That's how seriously disgusted by this situation I am.

I cannot imagine a time where I would no longer be a Celtic supporter but if it becomes the case that the country we live in is so diseased that we can't even have a Northern Irish Catholic as our manager because he'll get hounded until he leaves us, then is it really worth carrying on?

I honestly will just lose faith in everything if Neil Lennon is forced out of Scotland by mindless, bigoted Hun *. I've always known that Scotland has a major sectarian problem but Neil Lennon being forced to stand down as Celtic manager would just be the final straw for me. I don't think I could go on after that unless Celtic moved to another league in another country.

 

My sentiments exactly Markybhoy

as melodramatic as it sounds i couldn't stay here, let alone ever think of raising a family here (though thats a loooooooooooooong way off ) if he was forced to leave because of bigots; this goes far beyond mere football

if he did leave i think my cynicism of this allegedly 'tolerant best wee country in the world' would be complete

here's hoping it never reaches that stage and we are celebrating a treble and a new era under Neil in the summer rather than lamenting the exposure of scotland's true bigoted self

YNWA Neil

 

on a lighter note, if he did leave we should have a "dance off" between tommo and dolf to see who gets the managers job!

 

It is something the board will have to think about if he does go it would not be until the end of the season surely , do not want it to happen but if it did i can fully respect why Neil has had to make that choice .
not worth thinking about but there is now a massive worry he will go for me .heart breaking even thinking on it .

 

The problem is that when clubs come to represent creeds rather than just football or a locality it is always a timebomb. People get far more angry over creeds than football. The bottom line is as soon as teams either by accident or design became representatives of religions, political views, ethnic groups etc its always going to be dangerous. I have really always only supported Celtic because of the football. I think the OF need to completely disband this 'more than football' aspect and concentrate on supporters who watch a good football team because they like football.

 

couldnt have put it better myself

 

No, Celtic ARE more than a club, they were started as more than just a football club and to turn our back on that now at the behest of mindless bigots would be doing ourselves a tremendous disservice. It is different with Rangers, they became what they did simply because it was the opposite of what we were, but Celtic do not represent a creed like Rangers do. I don't feel that I need to remind you of Willie Maley's famous quote.