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'Gazza and Larsson united Celtic and Rangers fans' | Craig Brown

Craig Brown has said that only two players managed to unite fans of the Old Firm clubs Celtic and...



Soccer

'Gazza and Larsson united Celtic and Rangers fans' | Craig Brown


Craig Brown has said that only two players managed to unite fans of the Old Firm clubs Celtic and Rangers - Gazza and Henrik Larsson.

Brown joined Off The Ball to look back at his tenure as Scotland national team manager, and Euro 96 - where England's talisman Gascoigne had the deciding influence.

"We were very optimistic, we felt like we could squeeze out of the group. In fact, we failed not on goal difference but on goals scored. It was a very close group and we did well in the opening game against the Netherlands to get a draw.

"We went to Wembley and it was sheer brilliance that beat us there, Gascoigne was playing in Scotland at the time for Glasgow Rangers. He beat the Glasgow Rangers goalkeeper with a wonderful goal.

"But we missed a penalty and had Gary McAllister gone on to score that then we might have won that match. But these are all hard luck stories."

Gazza and Larsson

Brown is magnanimous in defeat, and says that Gascoigne sits with one other in being able to unite Celtic and Rangers fans.

"A wonderful goal, and an unfortunate penalty miss but Gascoigne's goal was fit to win any match. The fact that he was popular in Glasgow, even with the Celtic fans - it's very similar to Henrik Larsson.

"Larsson was very popular with both the Celtic and the Rangers fans. Gascoigne had the same feeling in Glasgow. Everyone loved him. He was a nice guy.

"He scored a goal so we were upset but we had to acknowledge it."

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