What Happened to Footballer Deemed Too Violent to Play in Old Firm Derby For Rangers

Celtic and Rangers are more than just football clubs – they are the embodiment of Glasgow’s deepest divides, two warring tribes separated by history, faith, and politics. Celtic’s faithful, draped in green and white, and the city, Rangers’ supporters stand firm in Blue.

Between them, they have amassed an astonishing 107 league titles, leaving the rest of Scotland’s clubs with just 19 combined. First locking horns in 1888, theirs is a rivalry older than most nations’ footballing traditions. The Old Firm is a clash of culture and conviction, and at times, it has spilt over into pure chaos.

From the infamous 1980 Scottish Cup Final riot, where thousands of fans flooded Hampden Park in a frenzied mass brawl – hurling bottles, stones, and iron bars, leading to Scotland’s stadium alcohol ban – to the “Shame Game” of 1999, where three Rangers players were sent off as violence erupted inside and outside Celtic Park, the rivalry has never been short on hostility.

The 2011 touchline bust-up between Ally McCoist and Neil Lennon also ignited unrest, leading to 200 arrests across Glasgow. Yet, for all its fury, there was one man deemed too dangerous to ever set foot in the firestorm of a derby. That man was Kevin Muscat, who has a history as one of football’s most controversial figures.

Why Kevin Muscat Was Denied Playing in Old Firm Derby

In 2013, Spanish football website El Gol Digital named Kevin Muscat as the dirtiest player in football history, and it’s not hard to see why when he is, to this day, the only player in over a century-long Old Firm Derby history deemed too violent – at least in the eyes of his manager – to have played a role in any of Rangers’ encounters with the old enemy during his sole year at the club between 2002 and 2003.

Indeed, Alex McLeish reportedly didn’t trust the notoriously aggro footballer in the intense atmosphere of one of the game’s fiercest derby encounters.