Rangers' image abroad is in tatters
THUGS ARE TO BLAME - NOT THE FOREIGN POLICE
THESE Rangers thugs just don't get it, do they?
Knuckle-trailing morons who attach themselves like scum to decent footie fans are too thick to understand.
So I'll explain it simply, just in case any of them can read: If you are a thug and you follow Rangers for a European football clash, the cops are lying in wait.
Because your reputation goes before you, in a shameful catalogue of yobbery that few other football clubs have ever been able to surpass.
So, the baton-wielding cops are armed and ready with CS gas, and anything they need to beat the s**t out of you.
That's how it is. It's not up for debate. It's up to you to deal with it.
If you so much as step off the pavement, chances are you will be bludgeoned by some burly policeman who has already made up his mind that you're a waster.
What part of that little scenario is difficult to understand? Honest to God.
I watched these scenes unfold during the match in Bucharest and I could not believe what I was seeing. The neds who rampaged through Manchester in 2008, tearing up the city, haven't even been dealt with in court yet, and here we go again.
Could it be that the sectarian element fosters a mentality that will always be hell-bent on trouble?
And I'm sure all the true Rangers fans watching at home, and the decent supporters standing terrified in case they were drawn into a full- scale riot, must be wondering what the hell they can do to shake off these eejits.
Every proper Rangers fan I know, who wants to be able to go along to a match and support their team, must be pig sick of the mindless animals who are dragging them into the gutter.
Because make no mistake about it. The image of Rangers abroad is in tatters because of these cave dwellers.
Long before the Battle of Bucharest, true Rangers fans were treated like lepers when they travelled because of numbskulls latching onto them.
They are not fans. You and I know that.
Anyone who goes to a football match anywhere in the world looking for a fight is not a fan, he is a thug.
But maybe someone can tell me this: Why do there seem to be more thugs attached to Rangers than many other football clubs?
Every time I criticise Rangers I get hate mail. The truth is, I have plenty of Gers friends, and I was willing them on to win against Unirea.
But it's time Rangers looked inside themselves and asked just why trouble follows them everywhere they go. Because either Rangers are the most persecuted club in the world, or they just attract a bigger hooligan element than anyone else.
The sickening scenes we have witnessed in recent years from Spain to Manchester would suggest this is not about persecution. It is about sheer thuggery.
So instead of Rangers supremo Martin Bain prattling on about too few turnstiles being open, he should look at why his club is plagued by this despicable baggage.
Could it be that the sectarian element fosters a mentality that will always be hell-bent on trouble? We know that where you have sectarianism, you will find thuggery.
At Celtic you have morons who still insist on singing IRA songs, when the fact is you could probably write their knowledge of Irish history on the back of a fag packet.
They are thugs, not fans. And it's the same for the idiots singing No Surrender - as we could clearly hear during the match in Bucharest.
If Rangers are trying to find the yobs dragging them down, then they will find them among these rancid ranks. It's time everyone attached to Rangers stopped blaming everyone else and asked themselves if they are doing enough.
That includes supporters' clubs who run buses and deal with tickets, up to the bosses in the Rangers boardroom. Because this great club means a lot to many good people, and it is in a big enough mess without UEFA banning them from Euro tournaments.
Sadly, for the club and genuine fans, if UEFA decided to do that tomorrow, Rangers wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
ANNA SMITH
This article has 12 comments
Ms Smith,
As someone who follows rangers in Europe frequently, let me just state something. The amount of times i have seen trouble at an away match you could "write on the back of a fag packet" (been around 36 trips now)
What you also fail to understand is that EVERY TEAM has an element within it (even your beloved Celtic). And maybe, just maybe, the fans in Bucharest had had enough of being batoned around.
And as for attracting a bigger hooligan element than anyone else??? "if you know your history anna". Im sure that followers of Aberdeen, Man utd, Spurs, Chelsea, Feyenoord, Ajax, Hamburg, AEK Athens etc to name a few maybe able to have an argument with you on that.
And as for manchester? How many arrests at the game? The people causing trouble in manchester werent even at the game.
I will be in Seville follow following my team no matter what UEFA decide to do. I know people like yourself will be sitting by the computer eagerly awaiting trouble so you have a story about the "rancid, bigoted" Rangers fans. blah blah blah blah
By Stuart B, Ibrox. Posted November 9 2009 at 1:41 PM.
In my time, I have watched football in both stadiums and saw the good and bad in both. There are always low life scum at both that cause the bother that escalates into innocent followers being dragged into the fracas.
You would imagine that the cameras should easily catch the small groups that start the trouble in the first place?
By Bestie. Posted November 9 2009 at 11:05 AM.
what a bitter little woman. it's obvious the mere sight of rangers fans makes her turn GREEN with rage. Whats wrong with singing no surrender?. it's a football match, we're trying to encourage the team to fight. should we be singing please capitulate?. If i ever get bludgeoned for stepping off a pavement, i'm blaming you. putting the idea into peoples heads that this is acceptable. shame on you! tut, tut, tut.....
By df. Posted November 9 2009 at 10:03 AM.
Wonder what her comments about Yesterdays embarrassment at the Falkirk gme in which Sky had to mute the Celtic fans who were singing and chanting songs about the baby killers and murderers of British citizens over a minutes silence to our fallen heroes....that's the real Scotlands shame.......
By gaff. Posted November 9 2009 at 8:38 AM.
It is quite incredible reading the replies to this article. Rangers fans actually trying to accuse the journalist of being a Celtic fan because she is telling the truth. Rangers fans there is a scum element attached to your club. Stop listening to Martin Bain because he and David Murray have run your club into the ground and are looking to blame anyone but themselves. After this latest outrage we once more have Martin Bain blaming anyone but the Rangers fans. Lets be honest Rangers fans, if you all ganged up and got the sectarian biogots and vile thugs that follow, follow, your club, you could still fill Ibrox every second week becuse all the families would take their places. Have you ever wondered why so many families that are actually Rangers through and through follow the diddy clubs in Scotland? It is because the diddy clubs, with the exception of Airdrie, have a family based attitude to them.
By Billy. Posted November 8 2009 at 1:11 PM.
Google "If You Know Their History" and ask yourself why Anna Smith does not try to demonize these fans the way she does the Rangers support.
By kooks. Posted November 8 2009 at 12:18 PM.
Same old, same old Anna. *yawn* I look forward to your comments on the Celtic fans IF they disrupt the minute's silence today...
By bluepeter. Posted November 8 2009 at 12:04 PM.
This is the fourth year in a row rangers have disgraced themselves in europe,why do the rangers fans constantly try to place the blame on others? be it turnstile's in bucharest or televisions in manchester,rangers want to blame everyone exept themselves,the TINY minority who seem to be blamed,but i reality this goes all the way to the top, sectarianism made rangers the club they are today and it's rotten to the core,
By gerry. Posted November 8 2009 at 11:30 AM.
mocking or booing our war dead what say you to that anna........nothing because you are too blinkered. will you be at celtics game today. dont pretend that you have rangers friends after this bile.
By billy. Posted November 8 2009 at 11:24 AM.
Funny how Smith only comments on football matters when its against Rangers. I look forward to next weeks article if (or should that be when?)celtic fans ruin todays minutes silence at Falkirk. Then again, if she does that she might not get invited to next years St Patricks Day IRA festival in Coatbridge.
You're fooling no one Anna.
By jim. Posted November 8 2009 at 10:34 AM.
My 43 year old son paid good money for his ticket and travel arrangements, including his hotel. He did not get into the match. He is not a hooligan but a respectable businessman who travelled with a colleague to Rumania. They, along with many others were turned away before they got through the turnstiles as all the allocated seats had been taken, according to the Rumanian officials.
They were unable to make their way out of the crowd of ticket holding fans who were also refused entry. because the crown began to shout in anger, the police opened fire with CS gas or similar and my son's colleague caught it full on and dropped to the ground. My son managed to get him to his feet before he was trampled on. and eventually they got out of the melee.
Sorry Anna Smith, but on this occasion, this entire fiasco was not caused by hooligan fans, but by the Rumanians not allowing genuine ticket holding fans into the game.
By margaret. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:06 AM.
Got to laugh at this, someone who wasn't there and didn't see the provocation & abuse the fans took beforehand sticking her oar in. She condemns the Celtic fans for singing IRA songs, yet criticizes the Rangers fans for singing AGAINST the IRA. You couldn't make it up.
By P. Posted November 8 2009 at 7:02 AM.