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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Ex-Rangers player Joey Barton admits wearing Celtic tops as a kid

Joey Barton has opened up about wearing Celtic colours during his childhood.

The former Rangers player has appeared on the James English podcast, with the episode set to air on Friday evening.

In a teaser clip posted on X, the ex-Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder reflects on violence in his life, in and out of football, and that Manchester City meltdown on the day Sergio Aguero famously scored in the dying moments to clinch the club's first Premier League title.

The 41-year-old also addressed growing up as a catholic and how this entailed favouring Celtic as opposed to Rangers.

He said: "As a kid, I'm a Roman Catholic, Joesph Anthony, I went to St Agnes School and St Thomas Beckett, and every third kit I got was a Celtic kit."

Barton moved north of the border in the summer of 2016, as Rangers gained promotion back to Scotland's top flight after four years of playing in the lower divisions.

He was hailed as a big signing for the Ibrox club at the time, as Mark Warburton added some top-level experience to his newly promoted side.

Barton was particularly disparaging of Scottish football both before playing in the Premiership and after leaving. The move did not go to plan and he was released after only a handful of appearances after a fallout behind the scenes.

He played in the first derby of the season against Celtic, which Brendan Rodgers' side won 5-1.

Given how things panned out for Barton at Rangers, he's not highly thought of by either side of the Glasgow divide.

Meanwhile, attending the Old Firm derby has been named among one of the top things to tick off the newly published Scottish football bucket list.

The national has spoken as part of a new feature conducted by renowned Scottish football magazine, Nutmeg.

The quarterly publication asked supporters for their top 30 bucket list experiences. The piece was researched as part of next month's edition, which marks their 30th issue.

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