Charlie Adam dismisses Rangers fans’ anger over Celtic friendly
The fury among Rangers fans over the proposed Old Firm friendly in Australia is just a result of trailing in the title race says Charlie Adam.
He also dismissed former chairman Dave King’s offer to pay the costs of withdrawing from the controversial trip as just stirring up anger among fans because he feels left out.
Fans are furious at the plans to stage a friendly meeting between the Glasgow rivals in a four-team tournament in November, and showed their anger by delaying the win at Dundee by repeatedly throwing things onto the pitch
The former Gers midfielder told PLZ Soccer, via the Daily Record: “How that looks to me is Dave King isn’t happy. He walked away from the club a couple of years ago, before they won the title, and he wants back in.
“Douglas [Park] and the board aren’t letting him back in. So he is trying to get as many supporter groups as possible to vent a little bit of a problem with the board and the board have come out and said what they’ve got to say.
“Unless you are inside the club, it’s hard to really comment on what’s actually going on. Like anything, fans are always not happy when things are not going well.
“Listen Rangers are doing well in Europe but they are behind Celtic in the league and we seen earlier in the season the Green Brigade were hammering on the Celtic board because things weren’t going well.
“It’s all changed now. Everything seems alright, rosy in the garden.”
Underestimated
Of course it is true that fans tend to be unhappy when things aren’t going well, but that doesn’t really work here.
Things are going pretty well on the whole, despite being the chaser in the title race.
And it is no guarantee that fans of a struggling club will turn against the board, as long as they don’t do anything controversial.
If Gers went on to claim the treble then it would certainly improve the mood of the supporters.
But at this point, even if that happens, they aren’t going to just forgive and forget about the Australian plans.
For all the financial benefits, and the ifs and buts of how it could have been introduced better, it is too late for that.
Squabbling between past and present executives shouldn’t be a reason for the club to force through plans that alienate the fans either.
And the problem is, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s ability to lead his side to trophies this season is likely to be hampered by the fallout from this.
The board can’t just force this through and hope the furore will go away if it is now having an impact on the team on gameday.
In other Rangers news, another former Ger is concerned about the impact of the situation on the season.