FOR many it should have been made into a national shrine to their king - instead, the former home of the Magnificent Seven, aka Henrik Larsson, is now occupied by a Rangers fan, and a season ticket holder at that.
The four-bedroom detached villa on the Silverwood estate in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, was bought by the Larssons in 1997, and was sold earlier this summer when the striker left Celtic for Spain, after a seven-year reign in which he scored 242 goals.
News of the new owners will add further insult to injury for many Celtic supporters after they were forced to endure Larsson, now a Barcelona player, scoring against the Hoops in Tuesday's Champions League tie at Parkhead.
When the Swedish international and his wife, Magdalena, put their home on the market in April, for offers over (pounds) 285,000, it put paid to any hopes of retaining the striker.
But for Iain and Carol Kinloch, the former Larsson residence appeared for sale at the perfect time.
The couple said yesterday that they were unaware of who owned the house when they decided to go to see it, and Mr Kinloch, director of an IT firm, said when he heard it belonged to Larsson he just laughed.
He said: ''I was talking to a friend about where the house was and he told me that Larsson lived in the area. Then the day before we went to see it, the house was splashed all over the Daily Record as Larsson's place.
''When we bought it we just started making jokes about it being his (and me supporting Rangers). I told my friends I'd sell the contents and joked about putting the toilet seat on Ebay.
''But seriously, it makes no difference to me at all, we're not bothered by it. We are very happy with the house and love living here. We have settled in very quickly and the neighbours seem nice. As far as we're concerned it is our house now.''
The Kinlochs' purchase came after months of looking for a suitable family home in the Bothwell area.
Mrs Kinloch insisted she and her husband, who goes to watch Rangers play as often as his job allows, never think of the previous owners.
The couple, who have three children, said they wanted to move to the area for personal reasons.
Mrs Kinloch said: ''We have a lot of friends in Bothwell and we both work nearby so it made perfect sense to move here. I went to see the house on my own because Iain was away with work and I liked it. I thought we would be happy there.
''But (when we heard who was selling the house) we thought some nutcase would come up with silly money for it, but thankfully they didn't.''
When the Larssons bought the property they paid (pounds) 139,500 for it. Seven years later, the Kinlochs had to pay almost (pounds) 400,000 for the home.
Mrs Kinloch said: ''The decor wasn't to our taste at all, it was fine, just not us. We have done a lot of basic work to it, but then I think we would have done that to any property we bought.''
