It is fair to say that English football lovers might only pay a passing interest to the likes of Celtic. The Scottish club has a fervent fanbase north of the border, to say nothing of parts of Northern Ireland, but in England the Scottish Premier League will always be looked down on by many. Even so, there are more than a few well-known faces who have developed a love of the Hoops over the years, with the supporters both coming from Scotland and from further afield. They are also a team that fans of clubs like Liverpool have a soft spot for.
Here is a look at some of those famous people who have declared a love for the Bhoys at one point or another, or who have just been assumed to support the club for some reason. Obviously the list is far from exhaustive, so don’t be upset if you can’t spot someone you are certain classes themselves as a Celtic fan:
Sir Rod Stewart
The truth of the matter is that many people who live outside of Scotland support two teams, having both an English and a Scottish one that they love. If you want proof of that then you need only look at Sir Rod Stewart, one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Born in London to a Scottish father, which helps to explain why he fell in love with Celtic. He had ambitions to be a footballer before making it big as a musician, with his song You’re in My Heart showing his loyalties with the lyrics, “You’re Celtic, United, but baby I’ve decided, you’re the best team I’ve ever seen”.
Susan Boyle
Although no relation to Frankie Boyle, the fact that Susan Boyle was born in West Lothian means we can’t be too surprised that she also loves Celtic. The singing sensation has been known to attend games at Celtic Park, such as in 2023 when she was their for the Hoops’ 3-2 win over fierce rivals Rangers. Having competed in Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, the singer became something of a household name and was asked to sing the club’s anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone, in the past.
Lana Del Rey
Given the fact that Lana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant in New York City, you’d be forgiven for wondering exactly how much of a Celtic fan she actually is. She has Scottish roots, though, and was dating Barrie-James O’Neill from the band Glasgow Kassidy for a time. She posted a photo of herself on Twitter wearing a Celtic t-shirt and in 2020 also did a cover of the song You’ll Never Walk Alone, which is the anthem of both Celtic and Liverpool, amongst other football clubs.
Fran Healy
Celtic fans might well ask themselves ‘why does it always rain on me?’ from time to time, with famous fan Fran Healy being the man to first ask the question with his band Travis. Although he was born in Stafford, he grew up in Glasgow and fell in love with the club whilst living there. When Travis took off and he made attempts to continue supporting the Hoops, it mustn’t have been easy considering the rest of his bandmates were all Rangers fans. Even so, he has continued to show his love for his team ever since.
Lewis Capaldi
Singer Lewis Capaldi was born in Glasgow on the seventh of October 1996, growing up in the city until he was four-years-old when the family moved to West Lothian. The youngest of four children, he began supporting the club at a young age and would declare his love for the side whenever possible.
📹 Watch Lewis Capaldi go Celtic daft on popular YouTube show as ‘Grace’ gets hilarious airing on Hot Ones 🍀https://t.co/VlGjYzdLC8 pic.twitter.com/s3J32A8KcX
— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) July 6, 2023
After performing his hit song Someone You Loved at an Italian music festival, for example, he was asked by the host which team he supported and he replied, “Celtic Football Club, Glasgow’s green and white, do you know what I mean?”
James McAvoy
Born in Glasgow on the 21st of April 1979, James McAvoy would go on to make a name for himself in the TV series Shameless before later becoming a much-loved movie star. Throughout that, though, his love for Celtic has never left him. Initially he started supporting the club in order to help him identify himself, he ‘literally put a badge on’. Even though he has spent most of his life working in the entertainment industry, having nearly joined the Royal Navy, he continues to follow the club whenever possible.
Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler shot to fame in the wake of his appearance in the movie 300 in 2007, having already had other roles in films such as Tomorrow Never Dies. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1969, he fell in love with Celtic as a youngster and would often speak of the difficulty of being able to watch matches from Los Angeles. That wasn’t the case in 2011, however, when he flew in from the United States of America in order to play for his boyhood club in a charity match against Manchester United, declaring it to be ‘probably the highlight of my career’.
Kevin Bridges
There is a cheap joke somewhere about needing a sense of humour to support Celtic at times, but Kevin Bridges has probably made it plenty of times. The Scottish comedian was born in Clydebank and went on to become a massive Celtic fan. When he was in Stockholm on his Overdue Catch-Up Tour, he was visited backstage by the former Hoops defender Mikael Lustig. That delighted fans of the pair, who had no idea that they were friends, with Lustig declaring Bridges to be ‘the best in the game’.
Billy Connolly
Known as the ‘Big Yin’, Billy Connolly might well be one of Glasgow’s most famous exports. He became known as a foul-mouthed but hilarious stand-up comedian before turning his hand to acting, but in 2020 he declared that football had always been his ‘one true passion’. Age and poor health meant that he had to move away from his footballing passion, but having been attending games at Celtic Park since the ‘mid-50s’ his Celtic-supporting credentials cannot be questioned.
Frankie Boyle
Speaking of comedians who support Celtic, Frankie Boyle has said a few offensive things in his time and has probably had to watch a few offensive football matches too. Born in the south side of Glasgow in 1972, he went on to become a fan of the Hoops. In 2024, with Celtic struggling and fans blaming the board, Boyle tweeted, “There should be a Peter Lawwell difficulty setting on Championship Manager where you have to generate 20 million in sales to get a loan signing in”.