UEFA Cup Final- Football forgotten

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Rangers‘ run to the UEFA Cup final in Manchester had the whole of Britain talking, as well as the rest of Europe watching. Just one step away from their first European triumph in 36 years. A tantalising tactical battle between two of the game’s mature students, Walter Smith and Dick Advocaat.

It promised to be a game that would be talked about for a long time. Sadly, it would not be for the football as much as it was about the fans. Rangers lost the match 2-0 to Zenit St Petersburg, and the Russian champions were able to celebrate their first European trophy. It left the 100,000+ Rangers supporters who had descended on Manchester devastated.

But the attention would be on them and, in the build up, it was good coverage. The fans had been partying in the Manchester sunshine, building up to the game of their lives. A city divided by Red and Blue had been transformed into one which amalgamated red and blue with a bit of white. The specially set up fanzones were full by early afternoon as countdown to the game began.

But, as Rangers’ night of destiny got underway, it all started to go wrong. A screen at the fanzone in Piccadily Gardens lost its signal and failed. Engineers tried to fix the problem but advised fans to head to another fanzone near the stadium to catch the action. Incensed and fuelled with drink consumed all day, Gers fans started throwing bottles at the engineers who quickly gave up. And this started a night of rioting, bringing shame on the whole of Scotland.

The tales and videos of what went on were absolutely frightening. One youtube video shows Rangers fans fighting with the police and each other to the extent one was knocked unconcious, while Rangers fans are seen smashing up a car and in one sickening clip released by Greater Manchester Police, a mob of 200 or so are seen chasing police officers down the street. One of the fans trips one up and a large number start to lay into him with seige of kicks. He suffered a broken arm.

Even outside the stadium, a Russian fan was stabbed in the back. These were scenes which Scotland and British football have worked hard to eradicate. Shops were smashed and looted as fans and police fought running battles for up to five hours during and after the game. I have read tales on the internet of fans running along railway tracks and causing trains to be cancelled due to violence and intimidation towards train staff, as well as vandalising trains.

Rangers moved quickly to suggest that a lot of these people had nothing to do with the club. Now, while I accept this was a minority in a massive Rangers following, it was a large minority and the clips I have seen show a lot of people in Rangers colours involved. There may have been individuals there who don’t normally associate with them, but try telling that to the police, Manchester locals and families who travelled with children and were caught up in the mayhem. They will tar Rangers fans with the same brush and Scotland’s reputation will be damaged.

The scenes I have watched and reports I have read have been nothing short of shameful and was a real throwback to the dark ages. Manchester City Centre looked like a war zone yesterday morning, with thousands of tonnes of rubbish strewn across the streets and buildings smashed up.

As I have said, it was a minority and there was little Rangers FC could do. Fans were quick to blame the police and the council but my view is this. The council have to take some blame for the screen not working and the packed fanzones, but that is no excuse to start fights and cause mayhem. If the police are being attacked, then they have to react. All day drinking undoubtedly played a part, but I believe there were some there itching for some trouble.

I feel really sorry for the many thousands of innocents caught up in this incident. It has ruined what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for them and completely overshadowed the terrific achievement the Rangers team had of reaching the final.