HE was the first high-profile footballer of the modern era to cross the Old Firm divide at a time when playing for both the blue and green halves of Glasgow was considered unthinkable. He is also the only post-war player to have collected Scottish Cup winners' medals with both clubs, Rangers in 1973 and Celtic four years later, while competing against the other.
Thirty years after carving his name in the annals of arguably the most hostile rivalry in European football, Alfie Conn is reluctant to dredge up the past but refutes any suggestion he was a brave pioneer.
"For me it was always just a job," recal
ls Conn, now 55 and living a quiet life in Coatbridge where he works in the warehouse industry. "I try not to discuss it too much because the dust has settled over the years. I don't consider myself brave at all. I had a wife and family and a mortgage to pay."
But does he still get stick? "Oh aye, now and again. A wee while ago, I went to a bar with some pals and this guy came in with his girlfriend. He seemed nice enough so we bought him a drink and he sat in our company for much of the night. When we got up to leave, he refused to shake my hand and called me a turncoat bastard."
After eight years wearing the blue of Rangers, Conn moved to Tottenham, where he achieved cult status on the White Hart Lane terraces with his long hair, artistry and dribbling skills. And then Jock Stein came calling. "He was one of those managers I always wanted to play under," Conn explained. "Rangers hadn't come back in for me and I thought I could still learn a lot. So when Stein asked me, I didn't hesitate."
Conn, who was Bill Nicholson's last signing for Spurs, could be electrifying and exasperating in equal measure. He fell out with the next regime at the north London club, Terry Neill and Keith Burkinshaw, and opted to come home. "We didn't really want to move from London and if Bill Nick had still been the manager at Spurs, I don't think I'd have come back to Scotland," said Conn, who scored a hat-trick on his full debut for Spurs.
Returning north of the border, he says, was always going to be confrontational but he was not prepared for quite so much hostility. "Two or three people warned me against it but it was only after I signed when I flew back into Glasgow, with all the press and TV, that I realised it was bigger than I first thought. That's when it hit home. It wasn't easy hearing the team that used to cheer for me throwing insults but at least it kept the city talking."
These days Conn describes himself as a "pipe and slippers man" who prefers to keep the lid on his emotions and shun the limelight. Yet even in his playing days, despite his pop-star appearance and dazzling footwork, he was never part of the 1970s playboy culture. "I was married anyway but besides that, I always preferred a quiet drink with my pals rather than hitting the clubs."
Like everyone connected with the first Old Firm game of the season on Saturday, Conn will be keeping a keen eye on proceedings. He goes back to Ibrox four or five times a season which gives you some idea of where his allegiances lie. He won't be there this time, though. "I think everyone knows I was a Rangers supporter when I was boy" is as far as he will be drawn on the subject. "It's just one of the games I don't go to. It still plays on my mind seeing both sets of supporters together. I prefer to watch it on the TV."
Although other players have made the switch from blue to green or vice-versa, including Kenny Miller, Steven Pressley and Mark Brown, Conn wouldn't necessarily recommend it. "It depends on the individual and how they handle pressure. If you go from one to the other, you've got to be prepared to take a bit of abuse. But I have loads of friends who support Celtic as well as Rangers, believe me. I moved on a long time ago."
The full article contains 734 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
