Celtic v Rangers Belfast friendly proposal to mark Good Friday Agreement unearthed in unseen government papers
A letter written by former No.10 adviser Alastair Campbell – titled ‘Rangers v Celtic, An Idea’ and addressed to Primer Minister Tony Blair, Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam and Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar – suggested the teams should wear their rival’s kits to send out a "powerful message" of unity.
In the document, dated April 12, 1998, Mr Campbell intimated that the match could be used as a means of “raising publicity for the campaign,” and that he could approach Rangers through Sir Alex Ferguson and utilise his “direct in” at Celtic to set the wheels in motion.
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Hide AdIn reference to swapping shirts, Mr Campbell admitted "one or two of the Rangers players to my certain knowledge would have a difficulty with this".
The proposal was made during the season when Wim Jansen’s Celtic won the Scottish Premier League title to deny Rangers an unprecedented 10-in-a-row.
There is no record of any further correspondence and the match never took place.
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