The UK is blessed to have some serious, heated and hated football rivalries, as Celtic and Rangers is no different.
Whatever your persuasion, even if it’s just sitting on the fence, you know and hear the Glasgow Derby loud and clear, not just across the UK, but the world.
Celtic are the dominant team right now, as Rangers, despite winning the last meeting between the two, watch their neighbours win trophy after trophy, including nearly every derby match that matters.
Last month, Brendan Rodgers guided the champions to a stunning League Cup final win over Rangers, with Hampden split 50-50 with both sets of supporters.
That’s something that isn’t the norm for the Premiership games because Rangers have thrown their toys out of the pram and don’t want to pick them up.
Either way, when discussing football rivalries in the UK, Troy Deeney was asked to rank the best and provide his top five.
Troy Deeney ranks UK’s top five football rivalries
Given that Deeney is a Birmingham City fan, as well as playing for the club for a short period, it isn’t a surprise that he put the second city derby on his list.
Deeney ranked the Aston Villa-Birmingham derby second on his list, as he told talkSPORT and also included Manchester United’s long-standing clashes with Liverpool.
West Ham United and Millwall also made the top five, as well as the surprise and unusual pick of Newcastle United and Middlesbrough, even though Sunderland are Newcastle’s biggest rivals.
“Number five, Millwall v West Ham, just because you don’t get it as often,” said Deeney. “I have played against both teams. I have seen, when their mob decide to go against you, it’s a ropey like, do you know what I mean? You have to stand strong. But it’s good. I did West Ham-Millwall, I forget the year, but it was the play-offs. I went with my dad years ago as a kid. That was probably the most scared I have been. They try to keep us in there and make us miss the train. It’s a massive rivalry.
“I am going to say four, Arsenal-Spurs. Again, you see it a lot. But I don’t think it’s one that has got trouble behind it. Like people are having it off and that. Now it’s about who has got the most followers. It’s like a TikTok thing. It is what it is.
“Who else we got? You can go right up north? You have got Newcastle-Boro. But again, it’s hard because of the gap in the teams. It has become so big.
“Third, we will go, either Manchester United-Liverpool or Manchester United-Leeds. I can’t figure out which one it is. We will go Man United-Liverpool, which again, we see that more.
“Second, I am going to go Blues and Villa. Again, we haven’t seen that in a while. I have been at those and I know what it does in and around the city. We saw Jack (Grealish) got chinned (when Villa last played Birmingham).”
Deeney rates Celtic and Rangers as the top rivalry
Those from the outside can scream and shout about Scottish football being a two-team league, but one thing can never be matched.
That’s the deep hatred between Celtic and Rangers that will never go away and Deeney has rated it as the best in the UK.
The former Premier League striker stated it’s on his ‘bucket list’ and he wants to attend the Glasgow derby in 2025, but he isn’t happy that there are no fans for the league fixtures.
“I think, the biggest one, still is Rangers and Celtic,” added Deeney. “I still think it’s the biggest and the best in the UK. There might be a few I have missed out. But, off the top, those five are the ones that come to my head.
“I want to go up to see Rangers and Celtic. It’s on my bucket list to get it done at some point in 2025.
“At the moment, there are no fans allowed and all that. I would like them to have fans again because that is the spectacle of why we watch it. At the minute, it’s just massively unfair. Just one whole coliseum of one side of fans, so the other team are just getting abused by the other fans. I would like them to get that back.”
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