Supporting two clubs?

There was a similar topic (which I can't find) about supporting your home town club but that was a slightly different question.

I posted Robbie Keane's comments on Twitter.

Robbie Keane: Jun 2008 'As a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn't let pass me by.'

Robbie Keane: Feb 2010 'I am a Celtic fan and did not have to ask much about it. I always wanted to play for Celtic.'

Now I've clearly upset some people from over the Irish Sea who inform me:

give Robbie a break. Most Irish lads support one English team + one Scottish team without any conflict. He is sincere.

There is no contradiction from Keane, if that's ur point. Irish people generally support an Eng. club AND Celtic.

Bearing in mind that we have played these 4 times in competitive football in the last 13 years I would say there was an issue here.

And actually, it boggles me that people can have the same unqualified passion for two separate clubs.  Surely the tempation when one is doing sh*t is to focus on the other and get wrapped up in their season.  Seems a bit like cheating John Terry style to me?  Who do you watch if they're both on the tele?  Or does it depend on how significant the fixture is?

I honestly can't get my head around it.  What does everyone else think?   Like I said this is slightly different to the home town team topic (who I appreciate you can 'look out for').

My reply yesterday was tounge in cheek. I dont understand how people can love 2 clubs equally. I repect Celtic and would be happy to see them do well but Im not bothered by them winning losing whatever. Actually annoys me over here that people think they have to have an allegiance to Celtic because of the links to Ireland. Fookin support Hibs then!


Anyway its wrong I think to claim you have 2 clubs. It cant work surely. No troubles for me tho Im a 1 club man

In regards to the likes of Keane I think players will always say what fans want to here

Theres no supporting two clubs IMO. Your full support should go to one and only one team.

You might follow other results from teams you have a soft spot for but I'd feel really silly going to two different grounds and supporting two different teams.

What if they played each other? It's just nonsense to me.

I understand your point here and agree! Im a through and through liverpool fan and i follow celtic too(yes, im a paddy ), but in relation to your question about who would you watch if there both on tele, theres no question about that, liverpool all the way because lets face it, scottish football is a crap standard in comparison! 2 of the worst old firm teams ive seen in my life! Unfortunately the following of rangers and celtic in ireland is mainly based on your religion (bar a few exceptions) Ramble over 

I did ask one of the lads who was having a go at me what happens if they play each other and he said

For Irish people? It just means we get drunk twice. Once to celebrate the Pool win, and once to commiserate the Celtic loss

Not really a good enough answer in my book.

Has Keane ever come out and actually said he doesn't support Tottenham yet?

I agree - no way could another club even compare 1% to my love of Liverpool Football Club. It really is in my blood. I didn't decide to support The Reds - I was just born one. I couldn't have chosen otherwise if I'd wanted to.

I did ask one of the lads who was having a go at me what happens if they play each other and he said

For Irish people? It just means we get drunk twice. Once to celebrate the Pool win, and once to commiserate the Celtic loss

Not really a good enough answer in my book.

Just means they haven't got a feasible answer, so they make a joke.

Thing is, most people who support 2 teams are glory hunters IMO. They have their local side who they would go watch before their 'bigger' team any day of the week.

It's just a way to stay 'with it' in the footballing circle. Purely my opinion.

I understand your point here and agree! Im a through and through liverpool fan and i follow celtic too(yes, im a paddy ), but in relation to your question about who would you watch if there both on tele, theres no question about that, liverpool all the way because lets face it, scottish football is a crap standard in comparison! 2 of the worst old firm teams ive seen in my life! Unfortunately the following of rangers and celtic in ireland is mainly based on your religion (bar a few exceptions) Ramble over 

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for your honesty.  Would you say that many of the fans then simply 'follow' Celtic whereas they would 'support' Liverpool? The impression I got from Keane and some other people was that they have equal support for both. 

Do you think you are in the majority or the minority?

My housemate is a Celtic fan and was buying Keanes rubbish on SSN last night, then I told him he said he was a Liverpool fan and was on SKY sports a while back sat on his liverpool bed with liverpool wall paper, his face soon fell .

Keane is a pr**k, hate him.

Good to be here mate! Id would say the majority would support the both teams and as paulrobbo says are in fact just glory hunters! Even though there not much glory in following celtic at the minute  

In answer to your question about me, i would just have the soft spot for celtic and like seeing them do well, but it doesnt in anyway compare to my love for liverpool! If celtic get beat at the weekend i just brush it off and say 'oh well', But when the pool get beat that just ruins my weekend completely!

I personally feel it's impossible to support more than one team and I mean really, support.

Though I respect many teams like Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Celtic, I can't be arsed whether they win or not except for Arsenal as Arsenal are in the league with us and I obviously want Arsenal to lose so that we can win but in certain cases like us looking like out of the title race this season, I'd want Arsenal to go for it.

However, nothing can be compared to the feelings I have for the men from Anfield.

I can understand  supporting/sympathy your home town club and a big club like LIVERPOOL(naturally if  you are not  from liverpool) but supporting 2 clubs  one in scotland and one in england and you are not scottish nor english  !!!

Any way everybody has his beliefs, I can start supporting a bunch of clubs, so i will be happy all thetime and can say 'my team won"  and which one? , you may ask  

It is obviously a sectarian thing with the Irish Celtic support as good as saying you've got no choice it goes with the job. When the choice of a premier team to support comes into play some glory hunters go for manUre but the sectarian issue once again comes into play and I don't know if the mancs have any assumed leanings one way or the other.
I have spoken to Celtic supporters who are convinced that Everton and Liverpool are as Celtic and Rangers are with the sectarian divide and they are surprised to hear that it doesn't go on here, well not in the same way as Glasgow there is a divide but religion isn't involved today. It might be throwback to when all the Irish migrated to Liverpool years ago and that would explain the bitter rivalry now(and we all know who is bitter).
My own family are of Irish descent and were inclined to be blue because of their religious following and geographic origin none of which apply now.

I'm Irish and I couldn't give a sh*t about Celtic. I think some Irish people kind of feign an interest in Celtic. Its not really proper support though.

Ireland would be my "second" team, but it wouldn't be anything compared to how I feel about Liverpool.

Every time Lancaster City play Liverpool I just dont know who to support ...then I wake up.

Non league footy is like an entirely different sport to the Premiership I feel. I know all the people who run the club, a few of the players and whilst Lancaster are currently the most succesful team on the pitch in England this season, you still find me down at Anfield bouncing at the back of the Kop against Bolton, at the beautiful Reading game to name a few.

Supporting two top flight teams would be a bit weird though. I could never imagine myself doing that.

Don't know why football fans can't support the team on their own doorstep to be quite honest, providing it was actually league football.

Never understood why somebody would choose to support a club 200-300 miles away from their home but thats just my opinion, last time I brought it up on this forum I got absolutely pounded.

Its easy enough for me to say that because LFC is on my doorstep, but I just no for a fact that me as a person, or me as a football fan, would support the club closest to my front door when I was growing up. Never really understood the whole 'glory hunting' type of football fan, because personally, I think going to a game like a division 2 away game at scunthorpe or somewhere when your supporting someone jarg like Port Vale would be boss. Itd also be quality when you get drawn away from home in the f.a cup to someone like us or United. Its what footballs all about really so its one of my main annoyances in football when you see fans supporting several teams or supporting a side based on history or recent successes despite what their address/postcode is.

I support Liverpool with all my heart, I follow Cardiff and go occasionally to make up the numbers at the pretty new stadium

Its purely an Irish thing to 'follow' either Celtic or Rangers plus an English team, and more often than not it is sectarian, in Northern Ireland anyway.  I've been around both sets of Old Firm fans and heard guys in two mind about whether to support United or Rangers/Celtic when they were in the same group in the Champion's League.  I just had to laugh because there's no way a true football fan can share allegiance with two teams.

Rangers was thrust upon me growing up purely because of where I grew up and what religion I was.  I say thrust but I never really gave two hoots about them and to this day I couldn't care less about their team or their supporters, IMO Rangers supporters are some of the worst I have ever come across.  Celtic are slightly better but only just.  There are serious amounts of fickle, gloryhunting knobheads in Ireland as I'm sure some of you other Irish ones and scousers know.

I must also add though there are serious fans of Celtic and Rangers that only support the one team and for footballing reasons only, so I'm not tarnishing all Old Firm fans with the sectarian brush. 

TBF to Keane if I had a chance to play for Liverpool and it didn't work out and Atletico Madrid (a team I sorta like because of connections Torres/Garcia/Pongolle) made an offer I'd say I was a fan of theirs as well, but as a supporter Liverpool would always come first. I think it was known long before the Keane was a Liverpool fan and just because he says he's a Celtic fan doesn't mean he supports 2 teams as such, maybe he just has a soft spot for Celtic.

I don't get it, either. I don't see how I could have any sort of connection for any other club, because Liverpool is the only club I could ever love.

But that's just me personally. Doesn't make me any more of a fan, of course.

Irish people follow Celtic by default.

Was in a bar in Dublin a while ago and we were playing manUre and I was totally amazed at how many Irish lads had manUre shirts on in fact there were no LFC supporters in the place besides yours truly of course. Got to say though that they were all kids and all they were short of was the gloryboy badge.