RECENTLY published British cabinet papers have revealed that No10 adviser Alastair Campbell proposed a special Celtic vs Rangers Belfast showdown to publicise the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
In the proposal, Mr Campbell suggested that both teams should wear each other's jerseys, before admitting that "one or two of the Rangers players to my certain knowledge would have a difficulty with this".
The proposal went on to state that Mr Campbell had a "direct in" of communication with Celtic and suggested he could get Manchester United legend Alex Ferguson to approach Rangers.
Campbell suggested that the fixture would be positive "both in terms of raising publicity for the campaign and in sending out a message, it would be very powerful."
The letter was headed 'Rangers v Celtic, An Idea' and was addressed to Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam and Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar on 12 April 1998.
Mr Campbell asked whether his 'idea' was worth pursuing, but records show that there were no responses.
The Good Friday Agreement referendum was then held on 22 May that year.
