Ben Wild Q&A: Answering your questions on UEFA’s investigation and potential Rangers EL return
Every week we’ll be asking Rangers fans on our Facebook account for questions that will be answered by Ibrox News editor Ben Wild. You can join in by following the Rangers Insider Facebook account and watching out for weekly mailbag posts.
Understandably, there have been a lot of questions from Rangers fans following the unsavoury scenes in the late stages of last week’s clash with Slavia Prague.
The shocking events have dominated the headlines ever since despite an Old Firm derby taking place at the weekend.
One question that has been asked more than any other is regarding UEFA and why they have remained silent so far.
Ibrox News editor Ben Wild has tried to explain where everything stands at the moment and why Glen Kamara is likely to not see justice done.
This is an extremely difficult and tricky thing to discuss. UEFA will investigate allegations made by both clubs and they will know that the footballing world is watching after last week’s high profile cases of alleged racism and assault.
Plenty of fans have called for Slavia to be kicked out of the Europa League to send a statement about UEFA’s stance on racism. I think this would be an appropriate course of action if Kudela is found guilty of using racist remarks but reinstating Rangers wouldn’t sit right with me.
We didn’t lose to Slavia because of these alleged remarks. We were 2-0 down on the night at the time and 3-1 down on aggregate. We deserved to go out as we weren’t good enough so putting us back in the competition would be inappropriate and it would set a dangerous precedent.
I’m also sure that UEFA would like to ‘do the right thing’ and punish racism but in this case, and many other racism cases, it is incredibly hard to prove what was said. Unless the comment was picked up by pitchside monitors or heard by an official it is extremely likely that nothing will be done to Kudela.
I hate to admit it but I can’t see the player or the club getting punished for Thursday’s actions unless Kudela comes out and admits what he allegedly did.
UEFA have an awful track record with dealing with racism and I understand their problem to some degree but something needs to be done as we can’t let racism continue in football or in any walk of life.
We want to hear from all Bears – if you have any questions on the topics discussed here or any other burning thoughts please comment them below and Ibrox News editor Ben Wild will answer them in the next mailbag.
In other Rangers news, Keith Hackett told us where the referee went wrong in dealing with the alleged racism.