Rangers fans will empathise with the latest demands of Lyon supporters as the French club’s fans ask that green boots are banned from the Groupama Stadium.
This is because green is the colour of arch-rivals St Etienne and comes after a total of 13 first-team players have been spied sporting the latest Adidas X Speedportal boots, which have a green colourway.
This includes the likes of Anthony Lopes, Malo Gusto, Tete, Houssem Aouar and Karl Toko Ekambi, with this a long-running issue at Lyon and something their support is clear about.
Lyon fans hoisted a banner in the club’s recent 4-1 win over Troyes demanding that the club’s players “respect our traditions”.
Get French Football News Now have claimed that this isn’t a new thing, quoting ex-striker Sidney Govou as claiming former Lyon boss Bernard Lacombe forced him to bin a pair of green boots during his time playing for the club.
In 2011, former Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis also upset the club’s board by donning green boots in the middle of a run of fine goalscoring form.
It’s a notion that Rangers fans know all too well but have often been unfairly criticised for in the past.
Rangers and Lyon fans both want a ban on green boots
Bleating rivals have tried to paint Rangers fans’ insistence that the colour green is banned from Ibrox as something a little more insidious when in actual fact it’s just because it’s the colour of Celtic.
Former Rangers winger Barrie McKay and goalkeeper Wes Foderingham were slaughtered by Ibrox fans for wearing green boots in a league match with Ross County in 2017.
Former Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha also banned green boots from the club when he took over later in the year, insisting green is “the colour of Celtic”.
Legendary kitman Jimmy Bell also famously banned green jelly babies and ensured such standards were kept in the dressing room until his passing earlier in the year.
And whilst Lyon fans demand traditions are kept, we wonder if St Etienne supporters would’ve reacted like Celtic fans did when a former Rangers talent’s mum baulked at the colour green.
