John Hartson was a pundit on Go Radio alongside former Rangers defender Craig Moore and presenter Rob McLean yesterday, and he found himself having to defend his describing of the meeting between theRangers and Celtic as the Glasgow Derby rather than the ‘Old Firm’ moniker many on the other side of the city seem so obsessed with in recent days.
Whether it’s this week’s Sydney Super Cup surrender, or the frustration that the Celtic support insist on the use of ‘The Glasgow Derby’, it really is something that appears to get under the skin of those who follow the new incarnation playing out of Ibrox – particularly of late – and it appears they believe there is a debate to be had. Indeed it should be noted that it is not just the Celtic support who call this fixture the Glasgow Derby since the emergence of the new club in 2012 and the fixture starting in 2015 but it’s also the way in which Celtic FC refer to the fixture.
And before a ball was kicked at the first meeting the Editor of The Celtic Star organised a crowd funded newspaper advertisement that appeared in the Sunday Herald newspaper (like Rangers FC, now defunct) which clearly stated among other things the reasons why this game would not be regarded as an Old Firm game by our support.
The final two paragraphs of this statement reads as follows:
As Celtic supporters, we regrettably recognise that our club had an association with Rangers (1872) through the collective descriptive term, The Old Firm. We believe this term is now redundant following the liquidation of Rangers (1872).
On 1st February (2015) Celtic supporters will support our team in the semi-final against a new club, which came into being in 2012. This will be the first ever meeting between the two clubs and the purpose of this statement is to place our position on record so that Celtic supporters can enjoy the occasion for what it is and without playing any part in what we see as the Rangers “club continuation” fiction.
The full text of this Celtic Supporters Statement can be read HERE.
Hartson himself seemed somewhat uncomfortable at having to explain himself, and it was apparent he was struggling to find the right words to expand his reasoning without upsetting some of the audience listening in.
Perhaps Hartson found it difficult to explain that the age of the new club, in comparison to that of Celtic, is the obvious starting point. It may have been easier to anger one side of the customer base and state simply the Old Firm tagline is still used, but only in a pre-2012 historical context, and that when one part of the ‘firm’ died so too did that historical terminology.
Here’s the last ever Old Firm game – where Celtic defeated Rangers FC 3-0….
There is something of a desperation amongst those who follow theRangers to have history rewritten and have their liquidation ignored. As such applying a pressure in all circumstances to describe the derby as ‘Old Firm’ is essential to perpetuate the continuity myth – as they attempt to do so embarrassingly with claims of 55 titles won and 150 years of history, despite not even being ten years old.
Yet it is understandable. As a club the old incarnation positioned themselves almost solely as a protest group against the emergence of what they viewed as a foreign club in their domain. When that club died yet the support remained, it was a difficult thing to accept and a mindset to change, so engrained was it. So instead, they try to avoid accepting the present by rewriting history, with some impressive enablement from a mainstream press. Liquidation is replaced by administration, applying for entry to the league structure like any new applicant, is changed to ‘dropping down the divisions’ and described as ‘the journey’, almost as it was a penalty imposed by way of suspension rather than the entity beginning anew that it was.
And the Old Firm brand and its continued use is absolutely essential to maintain the smoke and mirrors approach from the Ibrox club. Without it, they have nothing to protest about, certainly not in any present context, and without a Celtic to rail against there is little left in terms of an Ibrox identity, as such it simply has to remain.
When your identity is based on protestations against another, rather than primarily the celebration of your own club, you don’t have much room for manoeuvre. Had instead theRangers taken the chance from the forming of a new club as an opportunity to develop a fresh approach, bin old hatreds and develop an outward looking progressive approach as a modern club, without the baggage that went before, perhaps they may even have been able to create a standalone brand.
Here’s the most recent Glasgow Derby – where Celtic defeated Rangers FC 3-0….
Instead, they chose to fool themselves and repeat the lies until they believed those falsehoods and now appear frustrated, when despite their best efforts, others prefer to point out they know what happened, they witnessed it, and no matter the narrative fed a key part of Scottish football history cannot be re-written.
When the Glasgow Derby kicks off tomorrow the majority among the two sets of supporters have a long-standing rivalry, but the clubs they support don’t both have that any longer. One remained; the other was liquidated. And whilst the rivalry between the fans remains the ‘Old Firm’ branding ended in 2012 and that had nothing to do with Celtic.
That frustration is now being taken out on others who refuse to accept the Old Firm as relevant any longer, rather than the likes of David Murray -amongst others – who killed the previous incarnation through incredible excess, emboldened by a sense of entitlement and by a support who allowed it to happen and sat quietly by. That’s no-one’s fault but those who ran the club and those who supported it.
rangers will not die if you hold up a bit of red card pic.twitter.com/6hVioc9w63
— Cluster One (@ClusterOne2) April 1, 2022
If there is any upset at anyone not using the terminology of ‘Old Firm’ then it’s about time the ire was directed where it should be – those responsible for it ending – rather than the faux outrage deflected to those who won’t entertain the continuity myth and instead accept the Old Firm died with Rangers in 2012, and as such refuse to accept it has any relevance any longer.
It shouldn’t be for the likes of John Hartson to explain why he doesn’t use the term Old Firm, instead it is for others to justify why they still do.
Niall J
For intelligent people, ie., for those other than the vile elements of the Irbrox fan base, and for those fans all over the world, the matches between clubs from the same city are termed Derby matches. This is the starting point of any logical argument. So, we have AC Milan v Inter Milan, Liverpool v Everton, Arsenal v Spurs, Celtic v Sevco, etc, etc.
The starting premise is the beginning and the logical argument follows from that. The term O….. F…..m is an invention and implies something sinister of which Celtic should not and need not associate themselves with. The definition of a derby match is all we need to provide in order to refute any false statement from less informed people, or those unwilling to face the truth.
I think John knew exactly what he wanted to say but was trying to be as diplomatic as possible so as to avoid the inevitable threats of violence or death towards him or anyone dear to him from their lunatic fringe(a not so small minority).