10 Players Who Played For Both Celtic And Rangers
2. Mo Johnston
Probably the most controversial out of the list, Johnston – a devout Catholic – signed for Celtic in 1984 and was a huge success, scoring 52 in 99 league games.
After two years in France, Johnstone appeared at a press conference at Parkhead, with Celtic having reputedly agreed a £1.2m deal to bring the striker back to the club.
Due to financial complexities, the deal never went through and less than a month later Johnstone signed for Rangers, whose fans seemed even more appalled at the deal than those of Celtic, with many burning scarves and handing in season tickets.
From the early 20th century onwards, Catholics had not been knowingly signed by Rangers, nor employed in other prominent roles as an ‘unwritten rule’. Johnston was “their first major Roman Catholic signing”.The move angered both Celtic and Rangers supporters. Some Rangers fans burned scarves and threatened to hand in season tickets over the signing, while Celtic fans referred to Johnston as Judas.
However, he won over a lot of Rangers fans in November 1989 when he scored an injury-time winner for Rangers against former club and bitter rivals Celtic.
1. Alex Bennett
Bennett was one of the rare players to make the direct switch between these two. He first joined Celtic in May 1903 and was a regular in the side which won the League Title for four consecutive years between 1905 and 1908. In the latter two years of this streak, Bennett also collected Scottish Cup winners medals.
After spending five years with Celtic, he was released from the club. He overall played 124 league games during that time and scored 47 times.
Bennett joined Rangers as a free agent, in May 1908, and remained with the club until 1918. He won a further three League Championships while at Ibrox. Bennett was capped 11 times for Scotland, gaining three caps while at Celtic and the remaining 8 while at Rangers.
Checkout: Comparing Celtic’s Greatest XI With Rangers Greatest XI
It concludes our list of players who played for both Celtic and Rangers, leave your reactions in the comments below.
You missed out Ian Young
only one i hated signing for rangers was johnston
you missed out gordon marshall
Mp Johnston’s connection with Catholicism was remote – He certainly was not a “devout Catholic”
i for one never said m johnson was a devout catholic
i just did not like him signing for the glasgow rangers