Some Rangers fans decided to have a riot last night after a TV screen broke down prior to the start of the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester.
The BBC have quoted a couple of Rangers fans, starting with this…person:
This is absolutely ridiculous – there’s Rangers fans throwing bottles and cans at each other because the game’s not on.
We’ve been sat here since 12 o’clock waiting on the game coming on. The coverage started at seven o’clock and then five minutes later the game’s off.
It’s an absolute shambles, shame on Manchester, shame on Manchester – it’s let the country down.
Yes that’s right, shame on Manchester. Manchester has let the country down. The Rangers fans who were “throwing bottle and cans at each other” haven’t done anything wrong, it’s Manchester’s fault.
Then there was this little gem:
The people of Manchester have been fantastic – but the officials behind this are a total disgrace.
Some people are really angry. They’ve spent a lot of money – maybe £4,000 to £5,000 – to come down here for this.
Let’s get a little perspective here people. Manchester council weren’t obliged to put these screens up for the “estimated 100,000” Rangers fans who decided to descend on Manchester without a ticket. Should the screen have gone wrong? Of course it shouldn’t, and if I’d spent up to five grand to stand in a city square to watch the game on such a screen then I’d not be too happy either, but that doesn’t excuse some of the behaviour that followed it.
And on that point, how on earth has someone spent that much to get to Manchester? You can fly from Australia for less than a grand these days…
CanariesWorld 
I’m a Rangers fan and no amount of excuses is going to disguise the behaviour of some of our support.
I’m disgusted that such an historic occasion for the club has been sullied by these drunken morons.
Yes, it’s a tiny minority, but even knowing that doesn’t make those terrible events any more acceptable.
Posted by RFC | May 15, 2008, 10:17 amTo be honest, it was always due to happen with over 100,000 Rangers fans in one place. Apparently the riots continued until well after the final whistle so they can’t use the screen malfunction as that much of an excuse… There’s pictures here of them breaking into stores and looting the place, i hardly think again that can be reason with a big TV not working. As we celts rightly describe them they are ‘animals’… And u know what would happen if cut the fences down in a zoo. 80,000 Celtic fans in Seville in 2003 and on the day of the match there was not one arrest.
Posted by AJ101 | May 15, 2008, 10:30 amRangers fans are incapable of traveling anywhere without causing trouble. Greater Manchester Police even cancelled a friendly with Bolton a couple of seasons ago because they knew just what to expect from the hun hordes. Very few people should be surprised at the behaviour last night and no, I’m afraid it’s not a “tiny minority”
Posted by Will | May 15, 2008, 10:45 amScotlands shame !
Posted by Stacey | May 15, 2008, 11:03 amTiny minority my *ss.maybe now R.F.C. will take some responsibility for the neanderthal behaviour of a large portion of its fans.yet again Rangers fans are the worst ambassors for Glasgow you could ever want to travel away.
As I said its up to the club to discipline these morons after the police and justice system have done their job. The ongoing fallout will taint the city of Glasgow for a long time to come
Posted by Gerrard | May 15, 2008, 11:07 ameveryone up here (Glasgow) KNEW that this was going to happen. Fans of RFC have been allowed to act with impunity for years due to the, “see no evil, hear no evil” approach of the media and the SFA.
These bodies have no intention of dealing with Scotlands Shame….it was a threat of a UEFA ban which ended their discriminatory signing policy, a fine from UEFA which has attempted to stop their songs of hate (ultimately has failed – if anyone listened to them last night).
The Rangers chairman stated to a previous manager that he had 80% of the Scottish Media in his pocket and the SFA is run by a Rangers apologist. Unless UEFA act again, no retribution will be taken against Scotlands favourite team.
Posted by marc | May 15, 2008, 11:09 amIt`s a pity that a small minority,have made headlines,for their drunken loutish behaviour,and I hope the “key gets thrown away”when the scum who stabbed the Zenit fan,goes down.
I am just home from Manchester,and would like to say ,the police,all Mancunians,and the vast majority of decent Rangers fans,despite losing.had a great day out
I visited the 3 fan zones yesterday and thought the organisers done a great job,and fail to see how anyone can be blamed for the screen that went down at Piccadilly Gardens.
I would like to say the 2 quotes in your story ,IN NO WAY, reflects the opinion of the many tens of thousands,who enjoyed Manchesters hospitality.
Thank you The City Of Manchester for making it a great day out.
Posted by geo | May 15, 2008, 11:37 amtypical rangers fans they cause hassle no matter where they go and always blame every 1 else but them selfs, and even more upseting is the fact that there will be no large screens next week for the ppl of manchester to go out and support there home team because of scum from over 200 miles away
Posted by wully | May 15, 2008, 11:54 amScotland fans go and have gone abroad in large numbers for years making friends with no trouble.Celtic went to seville in 2003 with 80,000 fans no trouble or arrests whatsoever,they even got the UEFA fair play award for their exemplary behaviour,an unprecedented accolade.Rangers fans or certainly a very sizeable percentage of them have a serious underlying problem,they have a bigoted,sectarian attitude which is never acknowledged by the scottish media,who seem to pander to these beliefs and sweep their misdemeanours under the carpet.They’ve been exposed recently as Scotlands Secret Shame well it ain’t secret anymore due to their repugnant behaviour again last night. Remember too that these are people “the Peepul”according to their own warped view of society who represent Britain not Scotland supported by the fact that to a man they wave the Union flag . Rangers as a club know this and their PR machine swung into action portraying them in this pro union light to their bedfellows in Engerland. I wonder today how the people of Manchester feel about their politically incorrect cousins from the north.
Posted by George | May 15, 2008, 12:07 pmnice points made. Did they come down here to get into the spirit of the game of just to have some scraps?
Posted by ianbolton | May 15, 2008, 6:24 pmHave a look at the bbc website – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7402858.stm
I think that a broken screen is poor justification for these actions
Posted by Dan | May 15, 2008, 6:25 pmwhat a disgrace to the people of manchester. how the hell can this be allowed .mindless thugs idiots and a disgrace to scotland, one picture on tv showing about twenty jocks kicking that policeman on the floor.
cowerdice at its best . then some had the bareface cheek to accuse the police of being heavy handed.
what a load of rubbish. rangers must now be made to pay for this night of mayhem, fined and also kiched out of the future competitions. and for rangers to say it was caused by outsiders of the club,well get a life that makes you as bad as the morons.
Posted by terry | May 15, 2008, 7:12 pmI really have to say, this might be the wake up call Rangers Football Club and the scottish media need.
Posted by Ray | May 15, 2008, 9:26 pmI was in Manchester and its funny reading the replys from Celtic fans claiming the moral high ground on this one.
Was it not Celtic fans stabbing another in Amsterdam, Celtic fans causing a plane to be divered to Cardiff due to rioting in the air, Numerous pitch invasions like against Ac Milan and the clown on the pitch at Old Trafford, Celtic fans attacking Ac Milan goalie on the pitch, Numerous incidents of objects thrown on the pitch like the lighter that hit Ricksen and the mobile thrown at Novo.
No Gers fans arrested in Barcelona this season. Two Celtic fans arrested, one for hitting a police officer and the other for beating up a taxi driver, 60 other Celtic fans fined for such things as soliciting prostitutes. Then there was incidents away in Blackburn and Liverpool during the Uefa cup so dont all sit there acting the little innocents that you are all well behaved.
Posted by Scott Fitzsimmons | May 16, 2008, 8:10 amtruly awful behaviour from rangers fans, sadly
Posted by James Boyle | May 16, 2008, 8:15 amWill commented “Rangers fans are incapable of traveling anywhere without causing trouble”. Really? 18 European games abroad this season and not one arrest! If the final were abroad there would never have been trouble.
In this case we have a couple of hundred neds who have travelled the short distance down for a fight where they probably wouldn’t have been able to afford to travel accross the continent. Rangers have a tarnished reputation due to 1% of the 100,000+ fans causing trouble. It’s been blown way out of proportion!
Posted by Gordon | May 16, 2008, 10:16 amTo Scott Fitzsimmons and Gordon:
Take your heads right out of the sand. Scotland has known what you lot are like but refused to condemn it,
Now England and the rest of the world knows. And they will condemn it.
Rangers FC – Scotland´s Shame
Posted by Peter | May 16, 2008, 11:05 amI’m sick to death of hearing the phrase ‘tiny minority’. Those of us that live in Manchester witnessed the riots first hand and saw thousands of these scumbags rampaging through our city destroying everyting in their wake. Because of these idiots, the plans to show the Champions League final next week on big screens has been cancelled.
Rangers fans are a disgrace and should never be allowed into England again. The Bolton police had the right idea.
Posted by Cormac | May 16, 2008, 11:28 amIf you listen to the words of the rangers songs it’s hardly surprising that the bigoted hoards descend into violence. Until now Rangers and the Scottish media and the SFA have tried to sweep the problem under the carpet. Hopefully now the whole country will see what an embarasment these peepul are to Scotland. They are Scotland’s Shame.
I also have to say that Martin Bain trying to say that these people are not connected to Rangers is a disgrace.
Posted by Iain | May 16, 2008, 12:28 pmThe writing was on the wall before the game. BBC news at 6.30 am had “tonic wine” swilling bigots on show pretending they were football fans.
But the real problem is Scotland’s establishment’s failure, no, refusal, to see what’s in front of they’re very eyes.
Rangers FC are apologists for sectarianism – it’s business after all. Celtic are only a little better.
But the SFA are the real disgrace, especially Gordon Smith, the CEO – who seems to promote sectarian behaviour provided fenian blood does not exceed knee high.
Scotland’s equally apologetic media are as bad, with a few exceptions, and I’ll add politicians to that as well.
Hiilary Clinton’s campaign used the term “testicular fortitude” – that’s something Scotland could do with when dealing with this chronic, and age old disease.
Posted by Dave Gowans | May 16, 2008, 11:19 pmNow the whole of Britain knows what rangers fans are really like – bigoted thugs! how any one of them can justify attacking a car with a single female in it is beyond me! Celtic fans have travelled to manchester and beyond for years now with nothing but fun and friendship left to report! Rangers really are Scotlands shame and no-one will EVER convince me otherwise!
We should never allow rangers to put english or foreign cities through such terror ever again!
Posted by Mark | May 17, 2008, 8:28 amI’m a Glaswegian who is not interested in football in the least.
When watching the drunks and urinators in their Blue tops I genuinely felt I lived in a different parallel universe.
Both places were called Glasgow but had so little in common.
I was however interested in reading comments and thoughts on the subject of the events in Manchester. It was big enough and grotesque enough event to disgorge people’s real thought and feelings.
I was put off football at an early age by the sectarianism.
It is a vile and corrosive force that is eating the west of Scotland.
Please do not underestimate it.
It is the flip side of pride in the Union Jack.
The underbelly of Unionism.
Something rotten at the core of Britain.
It isn’t something ‘they’ do — it is something we all are.
That I think is key to looking at what happened.
The comments I have seen on several web site about Scots and drunkenness etc… are unfortunately well off the mark. The behaviour of the Rangers fans is pretty much a west of Scotland / Glasgow thing.
Patrick Keilty described Glasgow as ‘Belfast lite’.
Scotland is a diverse place. As a nation Scots actually drink the least in the UK – it would be a shame to extend the stigma of these events to all.
It really has bugger all to do with someone in Aberdeen or Kelso.
It might be convenient and a shorthand — but not at all accurate.
A substantial minority of the fans in the “Fan Zones” were from Northern Ireland, England and much further afield.
Rangers are THE Protestant team — with all the connotations that brings.
Celtic are the de-facto Catholic team with a huge following in the Catholic parts of Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Getting into the UEFA final was always going to bring the blue cockroaches out of the woodwork. (Celtic’s progress a few years back brought out the green cockroaches.)
All the actions of either set of fans must be seen in context with their counterparts.
Drunkenness and mob intimidation are their only power.
Strength in numbers.
As they say themselves — “We are the People” (the ascendent white Protestants).
Celtic fans for their part do have a tacit, though vague, support for the Irish Republican cause.
If you mix this in with the norms of large football crowds — (pretty vile).
The logistics of a 4 hour journey to the venue rather than a distant continental final. A body of people approaching 200, 000 would be a nightmare for any city to cope with.
The patently silly decision by Manchester City Council not to host this huge crowd in the park near the stadium (as suggested by an earlier poster).
Drinking from 6 am for tens of thousands of football fans in a public area of a city centre?
If that was allowed in Glasgow I would go off my head!
Streets covered in piss and acres of rubbish — an utter disgrace to the Rangers fans AND those who allocated them space there.
My genuine sympathies are with the workers and residents of Manchester – but don’t ask me to hang my Glaswegian head in shame — they have bugger all to do with me. They are a UK phenomenon.
Why did they all come?
Because they could — as simple as that.
Their posturing with a can of lager in their hand — urinating where they stand says quite clearly — “look at us we can do what we like — we are the people”.
It seems quite clear to me that the police should comb through all the video footage and arrest all the miscreants.
It would at least put to rest (or justify) the conspiracy theory that the trouble was started by some mischief making Man U firms.
(I doubt it)
We have clear laws on public order.
Enforce them.
On the night of the game I was hosting a group of German artists who have come over to Glasgow to be part of the buzz here. Glasgow is one of the leading areas in the world for contemporary Art.
Hard to believe perhaps but true all the same.
Like I said at the start — a parallel universe.
Posted by Tom Cochrane | May 18, 2008, 1:12 am