Comment: Why Rangers 'hate' the Reds
Stuart Brennan MEN
Manchester United will walk into a cauldron of hate when they step out at
Ibrox tonight - to play a team they have never faced in a competitive match
before.
United are used to the jealous loathing of English rivals and enemies, but,
to most Reds, the spite of the Rangers fans is something of a mystery.
Why do fans of the Scottish champions hate Man U with a passion?
M.E.N. Sport's STUART BRENNAN takes a look at the history.
In the duller moments of the Seventies - and Lord knows, there were many -
the Stretford End used to amuse itself with a little internal strife.
One section would chant Celtic. And the reply would come, loud and clear,
Rangers.
It mattered not if those two Scottish teams were not playing each other that
day, it was just a bit of fun.
Some fans would wear ski hats that bore the colours of United on one side,
those of Celtic on the other. But others wore similar hats that were
half-and-half with the blue of Rangers.
Many of the latter ditched those hats when Rangers came to town for a
friendly match in 1974 - the violence was the worst Old Trafford has ever
seen.
United's following were hardly angelic in those dark days, but the scenes on
the terraces that night were truly shocking.
United are a club that tends to inspire dislike, some of it bordering on
pathological, but many Reds are genuinely puzzled as to why a Scottish club,
with no history of playing the Reds in meaningful matches, should jump on
that particular bandwagon.
One reason, of course, is United's long history of association with Ireland.
They were the first English side to sign an Irish professional, when John
Penden joined Newton Heath.
And by then, a large section of their support was drawn from Manchester's
large Irish community - football was something that gave them a common bond
with the indigenous people, a bond formed on the terraces.
That was underlined by the fact that, when they changed their name in 1902,
they very nearly became Manchester Celtic.
The Irish link grew through the ages, fuelled by the fact that United tapped
into the raw sporting talent of the Irish Republic, from Johnny Carey and
Billy Whelan in the 1950s through to Johnny Giles, Shay Brennan, Noel
Cantwell, Gerry Daly and then on to Frank Stapleton, Kevin Moran, Paul
McGrath, Denis Irwin and Roy Keane.
In the Fifties, United were perceived as Manchester's Catholic club, just
as Celtic were, indisputably, in Glasgow.
Matt Busby was a Scotsman of Irish descent; his influential assistant Jimmy
Murphy was from Kilkenny. And United's scouting network included a large
number of football-mad priests, in Britain and Ireland, who would proffer
the best talents from their church teams for the club's perusal.
Some of Manchester's Protestant footballers complained that their
denomination was working against them in their bid for the first team.
It was a complaint that held no water when a young Northern Ireland
Protestant boy called George Best was introduced into the United team in
1963.
United became huge in Ireland in the Sixties, partly because of Best, partly
because of the wave of sympathy from the Munich air crash, and partly
because they were such a good, watchable team, something the Irish did not
have.
That link continues to this day. United, like Celtic, have a huge fan base
in the Republic, while Rangers have big support among Northern Ireland's
Protestant community.
Any lingering notion that United were a Catholic club was destroyed from
the Sixties onwards as Northern Ireland Protestants like Best, Jimmy Nicholl
and Norman Whiteside claimed regular places.
But many fans retain an affinity for Celtic, and the friendly links between
United and Glasgow's other club are another reason that Rangers are not
too fond of the Reds.
United have benefited from that link immeasurably - Pat Crerand, Lou Macari
and Brian McClair all made the trip South and left indelible marks on
United's history.
Of course, that was strictly business, but to Rangers fans it was another
reason to resent United.
When Celtic were forced to replay their 1984 Cup Winners' Cup clash with
Rapid Vienna outside Scotland due to a crowd incident at Parkhead, they
turned to United.
By contrast with Rangers' visit 10 years earlier, the atmosphere was cordial
as tens of thousands of Celtic fans descended on Manchester and mingled
freely with the locals.
At the Old Firm derby earlier this month, a flag reading MUFC - Aberdeen
Reds appeared among the green and white at the Celtic end of the ground,
confirming the Celtic links in the eyes of the Rangers faithful.
United are clearly no longer a Catholic club - if they were in the first
place, and the fact that their most successful manager of all time is a
Glaswegian Protestant, born in the shadow of Ibrox and a Rangers nut as a
boy, emphasises the point.
But therein lies another sub-plot.
Fergie realised a boyhood ambition by playing for Rangers for two
