Former Celtic and Rangers starlet opens up on the abuse he received after crossing Old Firm divide
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FORMER Rangers and Celtic starlet Liam Burt has opened up on the abuse he received after completing his shock move across the city in 2019.
Burt, now 26, caused a stir in Glasgow when he sealed a move to Celtic just months after he was released by the Ibrox club.
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Liam Burt playing for Rangers
Credit: Keith Campbell - The Sun Glasgow
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He joined Celtic in a shock move in 2019
Credit: Keith Campbell - The Sun Glasgow
Aged just 20 at the time, the ex-Scotland youth international penned a two-year deal with the Hoops afterhe had a training stint at Lennoxtown a couple of months prior.
He started his career in the Celtic academy system before heading to Rangers in 2014.
Gers fended off an audacious bid by the Hoops to sign the player a year later, just months before his 17th birthday.
He went on to make three first team appearances for the Light Blues before his eventual exit and return to the Hoops.
Burt is no stranger to brave moves as he also crossed the Dublin divide TWICE - from Bohemians to Shamrock Rovers and then Shelbourne.
Now in Northern Ireland with Glentoran, Burt spoke to the Daily Record about his struggles after swapping the Glasgow giants.
Asked about abuse, Burt said: 'Grief? I've faced a fair bit of it.
'After going from Rangers to Celtic earlier in my career we played Rangers at Auchenhowie and someone on Twitter quoted something about 'who's stabbing him?'
'That was pretty shocking. I still have the screenshots on my phone. I just look at it and laugh and show people now. But it's not right.
'When I went to Shamrock Rovers from Bohemians, we played them at Bohs' ground Dalymount and someone shouted 'even your mum and dad hate you'.
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'One of the worst ones was somebody wishing cancer on family. That definitely makes you stop and think 'yeah, okay that's a wee bit too far'.
'I've put stories up on social media and had people reply calling me a rat and a snake. Everybody gets stuff like that. It still doesn't make it right.
'At first it might be a bit hard for my family seeing all that kind of stuff. But when they started to realise that I wasn't affected by it then they had nothing to worry about.
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'There were stories when I was leaving Bohs for Rovers and fans were making stuff up that I was being forced out because I was in the pub too much. Just absolute rubbish.
'It's getting worse, social media. It's just what people do. There's nothing stopping them. You see what Trent Alexander-Arnold got leaving Liverpool.
"He might not be too bothered because he's heading to Real Madrid. But I bet he still sees it.
'I left Rangers in 2019 because I wasn't enjoying my football. I got that love for it back at Celtic."
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