English Celitc Fans

Wondering what its like to grow up as Celtic fan in England with the EPL at your doorstep and all your mates prob supporting the local side and all.

Any fan from England I've ever met is as passionate as they come is this because you had to really assert yourself as a fan and defend the club growing up because of getting slagged off people for being a tim or some ignorant * thinking we hate all English people or whatever?

Be interested to know! same goes for the Welsh fellas.

 

I'm passionate as * but I've always just seen that as normal for a tim. I've got the * ripped out of me my whole life for being a tim, but it's just strengthened my resolve. I really think English football is completely soulless though, I've lived in and around London my whole life and probably known 2 people who regularly go to watch their team.

 

I suppose it's the same as growing up in Ireland mate seeing as the EPL is massive over there,* even Chelski have Irish fans now

 

Didn't know you were from down south mate fair play to all the Bhoys and Ghirls that support Celtic from afar

 

EXACTLY the same as me mate

I've suffered the arrogance, cockiness and ignorance all my life tbh. But it hasn't affected me really, * me off hundreds of times but that's about it. It always felt right being a Celtic supporter. Perfect club for me!

 

As a boy growing up in England, along with my best pal Pat, I used to go to watch our local club and we would both wear our Celtic scarves. Proud as punch to be Celtic supporters. Fond memories of good days when we had a team that could hold their own with any team on Earth.

 

Erm probably the same as growing up in Ireland.

 

For me, in the younger days it was a bit of a nightmare and all the older kids would always slag me for wearing my Celtic kits out and playing football, i was much younger and you could half class some of.it as bullying but it never stopped me wearing it and watching games in my local youth clubs surrounded by chelsea fans and other epl glory hunters..
Naturally as you get older and bigger :smiley-laughing002:, these loud mouths become quieter..

I've learned that if you watch Celtic games in non Celtic pubs you will go off your head at * noising you up and my old man has had the same dealings but i can't bite my tongue so i only now watch our games when out, in Celtic pubs only..
Generally cockney loudmouths down in locals have no time for us or what they like to.call our 'scum supporters'.. Not all and everyone has there own experiences but generally they feel that way about us..
I grew up, partly in Victoria/pimlico which was a real chelsea area(massively), pretty huns central and also Scottish guards and Welsh around the corner in pubs, tells you why Celtic fans get noised up in certain areas as well but generally huns supporters can drink neutral anywhere with no problems here..

I suppose our massive, massive support down here is strong for a.number of reasons..
The epl bubble
The attitude towards our game
and club
a real us v the real mentality which others from other countries will have also

Probably made my love or celtic stronger for having to endure these mugs for a life time on telly , areas, pubs etc
And whilst being born and.bred here that i have a hatred for everything about them..

All my pals are of course English but sort of see and understand why i am how i am..

Anybody that's spent enough time here nevermind born will know exactly what i mean..

I'd like to think I'm pretty clued up on football in general as well as Celtic.of course, whereas generally down here they know fuckall..

 

I grew up just outside of London, so naturally most of my mates are Arsenal fans or similar. Most of my mum's family are Spurs fans and my dad's family are Celts. It was mainly my uncle on my dad's side that got me into the Bhoys from an early age and my dad started following us again once I took an interest. But in all honesty, since the age of about 9 or 10 I have never looked back.

Celtic is just something special. I know we all believe this but I think the fact that I never really had Celtic pushed down my throat and with all the potential to be influenced by my friends to support a local EPL team just shows that there's something more about Celtic.

In all honesty though, the majority of my mates who are real football fans genuinely take an interest in Celtic and bar the odd occasion where they would put money on that other team in the old firm games just to wind me up, they usually want to see us do well. One of my mates (a Liverpool fan) even came to Amsterdam with me in November without a ticket and had a great time as an honorary Bhoy for a few days!

I get the usual pish about how * the SPL is and more often than not I can agree with the comments if it's coming from someone who knows their football but I find it's just all too easy for every man and his dog down here to lay the boot into Scottish football and our club for playing in Scotland. I've had many an argument with people who claim to be football fans of some EPL club who slate Scottish football, when they would never have even seen a game. But I always stick up for the club and usually get the backing from real football fans who know at least enough history about Celtic to know that we're bigger than the vast majority of EPL clubs.

The overall thing that I find really irritating, especially the older I get, is the sheer arrogance of the English media and the Sky's coverage of the self-proclaimed "best league in the world". And while we all know that we are being held back by our comparatively miniscule financial income compared to the EPL clubs, I would hate to see us sucked into the deluded arrogance that is that league.

At the end of the day, unless you are challenging for the title (and let's be honest, it's usually only going to be two/three teams at best a season) if you're in the top half of the EPL table, you're aiming to get into Europe. And I know that we are not guaranteed the UCL each year but we should realistically be in some form of European competition every year! And that's what we would be fighting for if we were in that league! So, at this time and until a realistic and plausible alternative is on the cards, I'll stick with our current situation!

I'm proud of Celtic's roots and we belong in Scotland. While it could be amazing for our club in terms of growth, I wouldn't want to see us move to England and have the life sucked out of the club just for the sake of money. And while it's painful to see clubs like Southampton coming in with bids of irrefusable amounts of money for our players, it just wouldn't be worth it.

It's more than money that makes this club special and that's what a lot of my friends see in Celtic through me. They see the passion when I talk about our club and they admire our fans, many of them just wishing that their clubs could have that support. And it's this that makes supporting Celtic in England all that much sweeter

Hail Hail

 

Even in the North of Ireland you find yourself justifying why you support Celtic. A lot of the time I'm asked who I support and I'd say Celtic just to be asked what English team I support when I say no one. I always know the person asking now thinks I know nothing about football as I don't support an EPL team.

 

I got tonnes of stick for supporting Celtic throughout high school, fans of the smaller teams were actually the worst for it. I had derby fans and sheffield united fans telling me to support my local team, how they would probably finish top 2 in the Spl (this was when rangers were in), how we didn't even deserve to be in the champions league all that kind of stuff, It was mainly fans of teams who have never actually won anything who had the biggest egos.

 

I started supporting Celtic when I was around 6 and got my first shirt when I was seven. Straight away friends started with why are you supporting them and not Man Utd which is who most of my friends latched onto. Celtic are my dads team, so they are my team (pretty much the unwritten rule of football).

As I got older the abuse got worse and worse. It then became non existent around the time I was 14 because I got that clued up on our history and such that I always had a come back when the discussion became about Celtic. Also it helped at that time MON came in and we stuck it to Blackburn and Liverpool.
There was only three other Celtic supporters in my whole school of 900 people.

My mates now generally bring up the SPL is * which I agree with but they don't bother trying to start the 'Celtic are * & would get relegated in the Premiership' any more. Mainly because they will get put in their place after I have explained the tv money etc.
My close mates like to see us doing well and a few of them have come to games with me and regularly will come to the supporters club if I ask them too. So it's not bad at all now.

I still now get why do you support Celtic, you're not Scottish. Most recently from a guy from Middlesbrough who supports Man Utd and lives in Bolton

It has generally been a pain in the * but I suppose it has made my love for the club even stronger having to defend us at all costs.

 

Everyone was * to them..

The league was a 2 horse race even though for the majority of the.premier league back then, there's was a 1..
When we used to pump there sides in Europe it was a fluke and we only played 6/8 games a year(meaning Europe) as the league was a given and.mickey mouse..
Even larsson was scoring for fun and they would.name there biggest duds from each club and say that they would win the golden boot in Scotland..
Our support wasn't all that because we had half a country and others making up the.numbers and had a cheek to call ours glory hunters..
We would struggle getting out of league 1..
Could go on about that mentality that is.widespread down here and the same guff anywhere you go.down here from arseholes ..

I honestly put there hatred down to jealousy, i really do ..
We have always been a special club with tradition and a fantastic support and history that pretty much all of.them down here have no affinity with(at there own clubs)..
It really bugs them..

 

Tbh people I was a popular * in school so the abuse actually wasn't that bad

 

Because, it's what we are, have had a few issues about it and any * who has had a problem with it has been sorted, big style,
English Bhoy's > Soft * who don't stick up for themselves

 

Grew up in England throughout part of my childhood and dealt with it every day

"You've probably got about three players who could play in the EPL"
"Who then?"
"Well I dunno because I don't know your team."

"Larsson couldn't have been that good if he stayed in Scotland"

"You're just a decent Championship/Division 1 team"

I could go on. You just get bored of it. They're all the same. There's absolutely no connection with Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton fans, whoever, they all look down on us in the same way.

 

I'm from poole in Dorset, just outside bournemouth. Its a beautiful quiet area so ive had a different experience to most Tims in bigger cities and places like london. I dont think anyone even knows about the ira songs or anything like that here. So all ive had is the usual spl is *, and the lack of knowledge of why celtic is more than football and how good the fans are etc. But then the abuse is no worse than what a fan of say Leicester. Would receive for not beinf a top team. Its just a bit of ignorance when they rubbish our european results and players like larsson but its not abuse just a bit of a wind up/ they know nothing. But who cares about that really

I was given the choice of supporting celtic or crystal palace as they were dads two teams , palace more so. I was 3 and chose celtic but I'd been influenced by dads irish influence from his dad - my grandad. At birth Iaid in the middle of a tri colour with a celtic kit on. I had spurs and palace kits too but always heard of the irish linknwith celtic and had an affection for ireland due to dads influence from his own dad.

My earliest memories of watching celtic were from 2002/03 and when you see a side that good you dont turn away from the club. Also I knew some songs and loved the fans just how amazing the songs were and how loud the fans were. My first game was anfield 03 I was hooked.

I had a hero in larsson and just something was special about celtic . this was purely based on the irish link and football at the time. I had a basic understanding of the history too.

I just remember amazing european nights and derby games. The fans and just uniqueness of celtic. I knew of the celtic family and warmth of supporters . i suppose Wembley 09 after we beat spurs was when I became addicted and celtic became a way of life. I heard songs about ireland that I hadn't known before. I looked them up and learnt all the politics and learnt the history in great detail. I know hundreds of rebel songs and celtic songs now. I'm a fanatical celtic fan. I live and breathe it. I feel as if I'm in glasgow with how close I am with the club thanks to forums and the internet where I can see videos of the fans every game and speak to other fans. I love celtic for the same reasons as everyone in scotland does and beyond. Being in england just means I can't attend too many games. It means watching at home. There's no pubs full of Tims to go in and its just kind of distant in that sense.

I think the fact I only make it to 1 or 2,games a year makes it more appreciated and unique. I look upon Celtic fans as almost celebs when I'm at games. Its hard to explain but for you who experiences it regularly it seems the norm but for me seeing something like the gallowgate mesmerises me as there's nothing like that down here and I love it. Its just so special and I appreciate it so Mich because compared to AFC bournemouth games and English games its just unreal. Its easy to forget that when you go all the time. Its just an amazing clubm

I'm now writing a book on celtic and have attended big games like last derby game, ajax,juve etc so I know what Its all about to be at those.matches that I'd only dreamt of through the tv screen.

Its just a one off club and those who experience it all the time are lucky.

Ive written a piece for my book about what celtic means to me I think it goes well in this thread so will post it tomorrow . its long but hopefully worth the read. It'll answer the OP completely.

hail hail

 

I have lived south of London for the last 30 years and although I'm from Glasgow all my mates and fellow workers are southerners Chelsea or Arsenal fans some Portsmouth I get stick a lot for how crap the SPL is, but not how bad Celtic are although the last 2 weeks I did get a bit.

However I'm more likely to give them stick forever telling them how great it is to support celtic or how big our club is our history the lot I even convinced them that we would be dominant in the EPL if they ever let us in due to the best players in the world wanting to wear the iconic great and white hoops.

My only gripe is not getting to see the boys every week although I was at murryfield on Wednesday and wished I wasn't if that's the best we can produce then it's gonna be a hard season ahead.

 

Never got slagged for being a Celtic fan and wearing the hoops. There was about ten of us in my school and six of those in my year so it was pretty normal. Also next to nobody supported their local team in Reading, all either Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs or Leeds, accept for when Reading were in the Prem of course. Got slagged quite a lot for supporting Scotland and telling everyone i was Scottish, particularly when we'd draw with the likes of the Faroe Islands.

I think a lot of the biggest rebels come from England, maybe something to do with being so far away and feeling disconnected, you have to go ott to feel a part of it.