A Labour MSP has admitted singing The Sash at a Rangers match - but backed the Ibrox club's attempts to tackle sectarian behaviour.

Karen Gillon, who represents Clydesdale, makes the admission in a new book in which a university chaplain also accuses Catholics of "wallowing in their victim status".

Ms Gillon, who is married to a Catholic Celtic supporter, said she sang the song - which commemorates King William's victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 - at Ibrox more than a decade ago.

"Yes I have sung The Sash," the MSP says in the book, It's Rangers For Me, which is published later this month.

"I would be a liar to deny it and I'm not a liar. I don't think The Sash is automatically an offensive song, but I am conscious that people can be offended by it.

"I do think people should be allowed to celebrate their heritage and where they come from."

But Ms Gillon adds: "I still go to church, my faith is very important for me as a Christian. Ultimately, we (Protestants and Catholics) worship the same God, although we express that faith differently.

"But the differences between the two faiths are far less than the bits that are the same."

Elsewhere in the book, the Rev Stuart McQuarrie, a Church of Scotland minister and chaplain to Glasgow University, accuses Celtic fans of holding romantic views about Ireland.

He adds: "They see themselves whenever possible as victims and resent their victim status, yet at the same time they wallow in it.

"Part of this flawed psychological state is that they cannot accept that they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek rather to blame someone else for it, thereby deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance against the rest of society."

Gordon Smith, the former Rangers player and now chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, also tells the book he believes Catholic schools contribute to ill-feeling between the religions.

He says: "I have nothing against Catholic schools, but there is no doubt about it - in the west of Scotland it brings an inclination right away to think of people as being different."