Friendship between the teams began when rangers fans travelled to London for a match between the sides to raise money for the bradford fire appeal. After the match the police fearing there might be trouble escorted the Rangers fans from the ground, only to find that the Chelsea fans who were present at the game, stood and aplauded the glasgow rangers fans as a thank you gesture for traveling to the game as it was for charity. Theres a small underlying Loyalist link to the Headhunters and C18, etc....which leads back to the troubles in N.Ireland where Rangers have a massive support when servicemen came up against daily attacks from Republicans who had a well known love for Celtic...Rangers Glasgow rivals. Mixing with the servicemen from N.Ireland they got to know more about the background of the country and with football being a topic of discussion when they had time to relax, a soft spot for Rangers was born. I personally remember being in Osasuna in 2006/2007 and there was a big Chelsea support there for that game. Anyway back on topic, great article Mand, this was just before i got into boxing but i have obviously grown to love this living legend. Cant wait to see him put on a clinic against Dawson.
