Pop star Amy Macdonald has criticised England footballer Stan Collymore as a new row exploded over his linking of Rangers and Chelsea to right wing groups such as Combat 18.

She spoke out after after the Talksport pundit said he we was vindicated after reports from Ireland claimed one Chelsea fan hunted for pushing a black man off the Paris underground was a former Royal Ulster Constabulary officer and had been a Rangers fan.

Collymore is not expected to work for BT Sport again after the channel withdrew his invitation to appear on their Friday night coverage of the Raith Rovers v Rangers match as a row exploded over his call for a boycott of the club over some fans' sectarian singing.

The row began after he commented on Twitter about the racist incident in Paris, where a black man was pushed off a train by a group of what appeared to be Chelsea supporters travelling to the Parc des Princes stadium for a Champions League match against Paris St Germain.

Collymore, who is also a Talksport analyst, tweeted: "As I said a couple of weeks ago, Rangers and Chelsea, aka 'The Blues Brothers', made for each other. Quelle surprise.#NF #BNP #C18."

Amy Macdonald entered the fray after Collymore remarked: "So the ex RUC officer who #CFC want info on and pushed the guy off the train is indeed a Rangers & Chelsea fan. Vindication complete."

He added: "Got to be honest, from a journalistic point of view right now, I'm smug as f..."

Macdonald hit back: "What utter crap. I support Rangers. I'm not racist or sectarian. I have no interest in Chelsea and I'm NOT an anomaly."

Collymore responded to Macdonald, saying: "Find a tweet where i suggested all Rangers fans are racists or bigots.

"I was asked specific Q about a specific link between 2 clubs supporters which yesterday i was proved right on."

Macdonald added: "" I... condemn tarring vast swathes of people with the same brush. It's not the way to solve any of these issues.

"Tarring everyone with the same brush, imo, is not going solve any of these problems.??"

Her comments were welcomed by the Rangers Supporters Trust which tweeted: "Great to see @Amy__Macdonald stand up to @StanCollymore 's lies today. Rangers fans are a diverse group so to tar us all is ridiculous."

A petition calling for the BT Sport football pundit to be ditched claimed a victory after reaching 8456 signatures.

Collymore's countered with his own online protest petition and saying sponsors and TV schedulers should boycott Rangers matches as long as supporters continue to sing sectarian songs. It had a 8881 signatures on Sunday night.

BT Sport withdrew him from Friday's Rangers match coverage after  fans lambasted Collymore on Twitter, saying it was unfair to single out the club fans for bigotry.

Collymore responding to being axed by posting footage to his 700,000 followers taken at Hampden of fans singing the sectarian Billy Boys loyalist song which contains the reference "up to our knees in fenian blood".

Collymore also stated: "Disgusted by the lack of support from journalists, broadcasters and pros, current and ex. The threats, slurs, racism is there for all."

Last week the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) said it would take no action over the singing of offensive songs and the display of a banner at the League Cup semi-final between Rangers and Celtic. The match at Hampden saw 12 arrests for sectarian offences.