Rangers legend Paul Gascoigne has urged fans of his old club to cut out the sectarian singing in Sunday’s Old Firm showdown.
The Ibrox legend insisted it’s a major blow to the club after UEFA ordered sections of the stadium to be shut down for Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Legia Warsaw.
His address came before Rangers were hit with a second charge by European football's governing body over racist behaviour.
Gazza was caught up in another sectarian singing storm in Benidorm last year after being filmed chanting ‘F*** the Pope’ in a bar with fans.
But he’s hoping supporters have now got the message and will turn off the bile against Legia and when Celtic head to Govan this weekend.
Rangers fans have been severely warned by club chiefs to be on their best behaviour as UEFA chiefs could order Rangers to play behind closed doors if they step out of line again.
But Gazza said: “Hopefully they have got a good chance to prove people wrong in the derby on Sunday by not causing any trouble whatsoever and obviously the same applies to the Europa League match against Legia Warsaw.
“Hopefully the fans can just stop there. It is a big thing for Glasgow Rangers as a club to say that if you don’t stop singing they will ban everybody. That is massive.
“For a player, every player wants to play in a packed house. It would be going through a players’ mind, when you are playing on the pitch and you see 3,000 seats empty it does seem weird.
“No one would want to play in an empty stadium, I certainly wouldn’t.
“Especially because I know how crazy the fans are, how fanatical.”
Gazza admitted he paid the price for getting dragged in to a sectarian storm during his three years at Rangers.
The England superstar ended up getting death threats from the IRA after his infamous flute celebrations after facing Steaua Bucharest and then repeating it during a powderkeg Old Firm game in 1998.
He said: “You know how big it is in the derby, where unfortunately it can be catholic against protestant and all that stuff.
“I know that more than anything, from doing that [the flute]. I won’t be doing that again.
“I remember after the game when I did it, against Steaua Bucharest, I went into the dressing room afterwards and all the lads had their heads down.
“I said, ‘lads have I done something wrong there?’ That was my first goal for Rangers. I wake up the next morning and I am buzzing to get the papers.
“I was expecting back pages, goal on my debut, but I was on first page, second page, third page, every page. ‘The IRA are going to get us’. Oh, my God.
“When I went into training again on Monday, I said ‘you b******, I think I have done something wrong here!”
“Walter Smith said I think I need to see you in my office.
“I got a letter from the police saying I should board up my house, I would have boarded up a wendy house!
“All the lads there were trying to see the funny side, but I thought that is not funny guys.
“My mate couldn’t understand it, when he was 300 yards away I was telling him to start the car up.”
Gascoigne, who only lost one of 12 Old Firm games, is hoping there are no flashpoints on Sunday but he insisted the clash is still one of the best fixtures on the planet.
He said: “I’m fortunate because I started 11 games against Celtic, was unbeaten, and scored a few as well. But the atmosphere in those games was something else. I played in a few derbies, including the one in Italy (Lazio v Roma) but this was completely different.
“I am looking forward to seeing how these new players react in the derbies. They have not experienced it, so it will be huge.”
