Celtic striker Anthony Stokes caught on stage......

[ian1964 10,720]

....... with a pro-IRA singer at a republican pub in Belfast

 

STOKES, fined by Celtic over a similar incident in 2012, appeared at the 'Rebel Sunday' event at a pub on the Falls Road in Belfast.

 

 

 

CELTIC striker Anthony Stokes has been caught on stage with a pro-IRA singer at a republican pub in Belfast.

 

Stokes, 25, who has already been warned by boss Neil Lennon over his conduct, was pictured at a notorious bar on the Falls Road with his arm around musician Alan Quinn.

 

A picture taken at the Rock Bar shows a smiling Stokes at the 
microphone with Quinn, who faces trial over video footage of him leading a crowd in IRA chants last year.

 

Dublin-born Stokes was carpeted by Celtic in 2012 after he attended a memorial for m murdered Real IRA chief Alan Ryan.

 

He was fined, told by Lennon that he had damaged the club’s name and was urged to stay away from similar events.

 

And his appearance at the Rebel Sunday night held by the bar every week is sure to incense the club.

 

A Celtic source said: “A lot of people at the club will be infuriated Stokes has disregarded the manager’s advice and turned up at an event like this.

 

“Why has a Celtic player turned up in Belfast – on the Falls Road of all places – at an event called Rebel Sunday and gone up on stage?”

 

Stokes visited the Rock Bar on 
April 6, a day after scoring Celtic’s second goal in a 2-0 win over Dundee United.

 

On stage with the footballer and 48-year-old Quinn, from Glasgow, was singer Gerry Og McConnell, whose 
repertoire includes songs such as Provo’s Lullaby.

 

Two nights earlier, the bar had hosted notorious singer Brendan “Bik” McFarlane, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1976 for murdering five people in a pub bombing.

 

Quinn has been charged with breach of the peace over an incident in the Foggy Dew bar in Gallowgate, Glasgow, last April – just after the death of Margaret Thatcher.

 

Footage of him conducting a pro-IRA chant appeared on YouTube within hours of Thatcher’s death.

 

No date has been set for his trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

 

Quinn – whose band are called Shebeen and whose songs include The IRA Will Set Them Free – was so happy with the gig at which Stokes came on stage he tweeted about it.

 

He wrote: ”Absolutely 
fantastic. Great fun too. Thanks for everything.”

 

Celtic last night declined to comment.

 

There was no answer at Quinn’s home in Glasgow’s east end.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/celtic-star-anthony-stokes-caught-3480659