Rangers fan says he lost job due to support for Ibrox club and whole ordeal wrecked his marriage

A Rangers fan who claims to have lost his job because of his support for the Glasgow club has opened up on the impact the whole ordeal has had on his life.

Eddie McClung is suing for £80,000, alleging he lost a subcontractor role at a Grangemouth energy site because of his allegiance to the club.

And he claims other Rangers fans at the workplace were also targeted, adding: “They were going after lots of Rangers guys. It was like a war zone.”

Now Eddie, 50, has taken his ex-bosses to an employment tribunal arguing his devotion to Rangers was behind the move.

And the dad of two wants the law to change to give other Rangers fans the same kind of protection as workers who sue over religious or sexual bigotry.

Eddie said the job loss led to his marriage breaking down, leaving supporting Rangers as his “reason to keep going”.

He believes the importance of the club to his life will win the day at a hearing to decide if being a Rangers fan constitutes a “philosophical belief” worthy of special protection. If he’s successful, the claim will proceed to a full tribunal hearing in what’s believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK.

Other philosophical beliefs in the workplace include pacifism, humanism and atheism.

Eddie, from Bonnybridge near Falkirk, launched the action against energy construction firm Doosan Babcock and recruitment firm NRL.

He said he started working as a project manager with Doosan Babcock in January 2019 where a manager told him another senior colleague was “unusually OK for a Rangers fan”. Eddie said a number of Celtic and Hibs fans worked where he was employed and there was “a lot of banter”.

But he said a toilet at the site was defaced with graffiti mocking the 1971 Ibrox Disaster where 66 people lost their lives.

Eddie alleges that when the manager twice bawled him out for taking 45-minute lunch breaks, he was being targeted for supporting Rangers.

He said he was given a week’s notice in May 2019 after these run-ins – and told there wasn’t enough work for him.

Eddie said: “Previously I’d never felt anyone went after me because I was a Rangers fan. There would be banter but they wouldn’t sack you for it.

“I think it cost me my marriage as my wife and I separated over financial worries. I lost £30,000 in wages that were supposed to run until November 2019 and we had to sell the house.”

Representing himself, Eddie said: “I have to prove my support of Rangers is ‘genuinely held’ which I’ll do with memorabilia and attendance at games..

“The next test is whether it’s a ‘weighty aspect of human life’. That’s covered by memories like attending matches with my dad before he died in 2018. It has to have a ‘level of seriousness’ which being a Rangers fans involves. It takes time, money and effort.

“Next I believe being a Rangers fan is a ‘way of life’. I get up on a Saturday when there’s a game and think ‘great’. I work to pay bills and hope there’s enough left to go to as many games as I can.

“The last one is being ‘worthy of respect in a democratic society’. That’s a doddle. There’s a few idiots but a lot of good people go to the games.”

Eddie hopes his landmark case will offer protection from discrimination to other Gers fans.

He said: “I’m taking it the full way. I want to get Rangers fans protected against suffering the same thing I have.”

At a hearing in Glasgow last month, Doosan Babcock and NRL lawyers branded his claims “sparse” and questioned: “Could support for Rangers ever amount to a philosophical belief?”

Both firms urged judge Lucy Wiseman to dismiss the action.

Judge Wiseman adjourned the tribunal to give Eddie time to prepare his claim.

Dooson Babcock and NRL were contacted for comment but did not respond.