Rangers fans

[AnothrSpacecat]

yen sid, rangers name has been in the mud for a couple of seasons now, from non existent 'red hand' salutes in israel to smashing up buses in villareal to be described as the most disgusting fans in europe by the mayor of barcelona (lest we forget uefa and your own clubs view on bigotry and steps theyve had to take to try and cut it out). obviously manchester was on a totally different scale but it was always going to happen, id actually trace the cause back to the media coverage of euro 1996

obviously england were hosts, 40 years since the world cup win in the same stadium, gazza, shearer, beckham all heroes, 3 lions on the shirt, god save the queen etc. they had to win surely? well the media liked to think so, they whipped the english fans into a state of delusion about their chances, suddenly there was a huge surge in patriotism and the flag (whatever that means!), people were singing god save the queen with tears running down their faces ffs.

they lost, but the nation had changed slightly, especially the younger yob lot who were too stupid to know any better, that period made the last 10 years + following england not just about being a fan but also a patriot or whatever! if you didnt wear a white shirt and drink 20 cans of carling then you werent a big brave englishman.

with gazza playing for england that summer, and with the whole english hype somehow tying up with victorian age loyalties to the queen, which appealed to the more extreme rangers fans, gers fans started appearing with england tops on. my dad used to goto ibrox as a hibbee years ago and was amazed, the thought of seeing folks wearing england tops at ibrox 20 years ago would be laughed at. even when butcher or hately were at their peak you wouldnt expect it.

it was because of 1996 that wearing the england top for alot of people started to mean more than merely supporting your team, which later changed the sort of people who were traveling abroad with the english national team for large tournaments. since 1996 we've had 2 world cups and 2 euros in europe, all of which have seen thousands upon thousands of extra 'fans' an excuse to wear the england top in another country, and drink alot in 'fanzones'

the root of the manchester trouble can be blamed on one-up-man-ship. if the english media hadnt of whipped up a '96 frenzy then the new followers of england would never have materialised. they wouldnt have felt they HAD to travel to france without tickets to watch in a pub, which wouldnt have encouraged club sides fans to do the same for big in europe, which wouldnt have caused celtic to take so many to seville, which in turn wouldnt have made every rangers fan who could go, goto manchester and get bevied up.

i dunno, maybe im talking shite, i am lying upside down in bed just now and my necks killing me

[Yen_Sid]

Rangers name certainly not mud spacecat (before this week ), well no more than any other club. Every club has it's small minority of clowns, while we don't agree with it how do we stamp it out?

As for the England tops, links to the queen, red hands and all that rubbish. I put that down to a mentality issue personally. I have been Gers through and through since I was a tot, went with my dad and went myself as an adult, home and away. We are a Scottish club, no connections with old Lizzie or anything English and certainly nothing that went on over 400 years ago. Anyone who thinks or acts otherwise has a problem in the brain cell department as far as I'm concerned. Like I said, can only be a mentality thing and these tubes shouldn't be considered true Gers fans.

[slick]

Once the dust settles on this I think we'll take it for what it was which was an unbelievable day and one we'll probably never see again.

I remember sitting outside work at lunchtime on the crescent , A580 or East Lancs rd as its known leading into manchester about half a mile away from the City center , just sat in awe with a few of my m8's watching the traffic which was at a standstill full of Rangers fans.

We've seen big sporting events b4 but nothing compared to the scale of this, there were mini buses, limousines of every colour and size , vans and just about any type of vehicle crammed with Fans, all in good voice and singing their songs, My arm was aching after a while just letting on and waving to the ones who acknowledged us which was the majority as everybody was in good spirits.

I recalled in the match thread about a student crossing the rd in a Celtic top and plonking his arse at a bus stop, he must have been out of his trolley wearing it on a day like that as he became a sitting target for abuse and by fcuk he got it, nothing malicious mind but not a car drove past without not noticing him and we were howling laffing at it.

There were a few fans who got off as Salford Train station (pity thr fan zones werent in Salford as we could have done with the imporovements) and made there way to the City Centre on foot , a pretty constant stream of them but nothing compared to the vehicles rolling in, most of the foot soldiers were half cut but in good voice and we wished them luck on their way, it was like a jolly boys outing with everybody looking to enjoy themselves.

It didnt take a rocket scientist to see that the City centre was not going to hold all these people and it was only the week b4 I was saying to my work colleagues they should put up the big screens and party in Heaton park as they did when the pope arrived which easily held a million people, most people in Manchester knew Rangers were going to come down in force if not just to beat the 80,000 Celtic fans who went to Seville.

Seems the Manchester councillors knew better and thought they could control them in the City Centre which was never going to happen.

For those that don't know Manchester City centre is a working Centre mainly full of office workers and sidestreets , there are a few shops knocking about but mainly are now 2nd rate stores like Primark, sports and tacshops, the council should have been looking at a minimum of 80,000 fans and theres no way the Centre could cater for that many + locals who were also planning to join in the fun.

Maybe its easy to say in hindsight but everybody had a rough idea of the numbers to expect hence the council bottling out at first by trying to ban fans without tickets then realising its a free country.

I don't know what planet most of the City councillors come from but they must shoulder a lot of blame for what happened for allowing it to happen in the City Centre in the first place.
In fact the first news of the day was of Tesco's on Market street selling discounted ale outside of there shop and a councillor goimg in threattning to revoke their license if they didnt remove it, did he think that would stop fans walking into the shop and buying it anyhow, it just shows the mentality of these people who do not live in the inner citys but castles in the sky.

Put 150,000 football fans (and there was that many at least) together from any club in the world and ure gonna see one hell of a piss up, there not going to boost the local economy by buying cardigans and shoes.

Your gonna party like its 1999 and make this a day to remember as these days don't come around that often in a lifetime and it was a beautiful summers day to boot.

Now all you have to do is cram these people in pens called fan zones with no where to piss or shit and your waiting for a disaster to happen, In fact I was talking to a few lads at work yesterday and they said there way back home out of Manchester there were loads of Rangers fans on the train who had decided to go back to their hotels as there was that many people in the fan zones they would get a better view of the match back at their hotel room plus they couldent move.

in fact every Rangers fan i and whoever else i know met that day were well behaved and in good spirits, they mingled well with the locals and the overall atmosphere was great, it was only later on that things began to get tense when a few dickheads had to much to drink and began behaving like knobs.

I'm not making excuses for the Rangers fans concerened but every club has them and it doesnt take much for them to kick off, the big screen failing in Piccadilly gardens was the catalyst and set the cat amongst the pigeons, that would have happened with any set of fans in that situation and under those circumstances, and it was only a small minority of those fans ,its no coinciidence that in other fan zones there was hardly any trouble where the screens were working.

The Rangers Fans that caused the trouble are scum of the earth and hopefully will be found out and dealt with but i could never tar every fan with that brush like a lot of people around the net are trying to do, It was a tiny minority and the aftermath was mainly rubbish and piss left on the streets which made the place look like a warzone but that was down to lack of facilities.

Most local people I know including myself found the Rangers fans to be friendly and up for the craic , no doubt others will have a different tale to tell but i'm just saying it as i saw it , I'll probbaly never see anything like it again but for reasons good and bad it was a Historical day and one I'll never forget as will no doubt most Rangers fans who were there.

Its sad really as with proper organisation this could have been one hell of a party for all the right reasons but then again with so many numbers ure gonna get the small amount of dickheads willing to spoil it, at the end of the day the locals embraced the Rangers fans and it was recpirocated in the main, the trouble was with the fans and the authorities and only a tiny % at that, had it been the fans and locals then it would have been a sad day indeed.

I just hope a lot of lessons have been learnt from this as this was so near to becoming a great day for all concerened and it would be a sad state of affairs if we keep letting the minority spoil it for the majority as seems the case with every walk of life these days.

[Winrew]

well the media liked to think so, they whipped the english fans into a state of delusion about their chances, suddenly there was a huge surge in patriotism and the flag (whatever that means!), people were singing god save the queen with tears running down their faces ffs.

I have no evidence of " England Fans " going into a state of delusion.
Being from England ( albeit the far north ) we all thought England were garbage before and after the start of the tournie.
Its a southern thing i suppose , Sun readers and the like !!!

I just like a drink with my mates. Big difference however is that while I am not a big drinker I can pace myself and not go over the score. As can many others I usually go with. No one gets into the falling down, don't know where you are state. Unfortunately some people do.

Fair play Crowie , its a shame that most folk cannot follow this sort of line , and im not just talking about football lmatches , its happening every weekend around Britain !!

Whats with the massive Daily f**king Punt banner in the reply box btw !!!

[kompressaur]

we are the pee-poll!!



sorry i aint a Rangers fan. I just fancied a bit of hooligansim

[AnothrSpacecat]

NO SURRENDER ! i love the we are the people chant, those singing it certainly are the bloody people


i like yen sids take on things, it wasnt the real rangers fans rioting in manchester, just yobs in rangers tops. im not trying to be arsey here but please dont be an apologist YS, or use the line that every club has them, not every club has a 'minority' that requires their club to print books of songs that arent bigoted or ill land them in dogpoop with footballs highest governing body.

things have been changing lately, the club have definitely shown more intent to clean up the fanbase than ever before but outwith your own support i can assure the general view of rangers in scotland and england is that they are a shower of scumbags.

[Yen_Sid]

Jeez you've got the bitter bug real bad spacecat. Maybe you'd be better sticking to the "anti Rangers" thread. Not being an apologist either spacecat, just saying it like it is, no different to any other club, just that we're in the public eye right now. And just to echo what Crowie said, I'd put money on the fact that none of the idiots are ticket holders at Ibrox. You carry on with your hate campaign all day if you like spacecat, doesn't bother me in the slightest, bit pathetic I suppose but there yi go, would be a dull old world if everyone was the same ..

[Yen_Sid]

Anyway, as an armchair "rangers fan" these days I better head for the big couch to support my team.

Wonder if they'll run riot and trash Motherwell town centre if things don't go well?

[AnothrSpacecat]

just because they arent ticket holders at ibrox they arent fans? what does that make you then?

is there such a thing as an ignorist sid you ever heard of the 'wee blue book'?

[Yen_Sid]

Twist it and play with words all you like spacecat. You're talking rubbish and looking like a real bitter man, fair do's, like I said it would be dull if everyone agreed and was the same. I'm a Gers fan, always have been and always will be. To tar all with the same brush is just ridiculous. Don't know why you feel the need to continue this hate campaign all over TDP but you carry on if it makes you happy, like I said, blatantly clear that you have the bitter bug real bad.

[AnothrSpacecat]

hello hello again

im not sure which planet your living on but you clearly dont come into contact with the same number of football fans around the country that id do if this is your attitude.

i wasnt tarring you all with the same brush, merely said that most people in scotland and around the uk view you as scumbags, be that fair or not, to claim the world thought well of you before manchester is ridiculous, your own chairman thought ill of huge sections of the support ffs.

by all means continue to live in an insular blindfolded world where im the first person to come along and claim not be a rangers fan if thats what it takes to make life more interesting for you then i wish you well and am happy to leave it at that. the fact your taking personal abuse the same way as Dan Dan has when talking about a football teams supporters speaks shedoads

had a section of ict fans smashed up a bus shelter in manchester, spent years singing about killing catholics despite how relevant and real the imagery is in northern ireland, and generally being bigoted and aggressive towards anybody while the cameras are rolling, then somebody online claimed they were animals, i couldnt see myself getting all hot under the collar about it as you are or could possibly come up with excuses like 'they arent real ict fans' if anything id do what i could to disassociate myself with them.

you wouldnt vote BNP because you liked what they have to say about nationally funded education despite their immigration and defence policies would you? nor would you claim 'they arent real BNP policies'

[Yen_Sid]

Oh my god

Hot under the collar? All I'm doing here is laughing I assure you. What planet am I living on Think most will be asking that very question of you. Never at any point did I associate myself or anyone I know with the minority of thugs. And where DD comes into all this is beyond me .

Got it bad, real bad!

Rant away with you bitterness all night if you like spacecat. I've said the way it is yet the totally irrelevant nonsense keeps coming so this will be my last word in here. Got a brick wall right here I could debate with and achieve similar results.

[AnothrSpacecat]

rave safe yen sid

[Tom Sawyer]

where did you get that photo of martin bain.

[AnothrSpacecat]

I'm going to have to google the name...

Martin Bain
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Martin Bain is the chief executive of Scottish Premier League football club Rangers.

He was appointed chief executive by Sir David Murray in February 2005, having been at Rangers since 1996. He previously undertook roles as Commercial Manager and Director of Football Business.