BBC reports on Seville as thousands of Rangers fans fill city for Europa League final
Seville will be at “100%” this week as it fills with Rangers fans but there is a “mixture of happiness and worry” in the city, a hotel manager has told the BBC.
As many as 100,000 Gers fans are expected in the Spanish host city for the Europa League final clash with Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night (18 May).
And with less than 10,000 tickets to the game made available to fans of the Scottish side there are some fears that large numbers of fans on the streets could lead to trouble.
The club posted a message on Twitter Sunday (15 May) from former Light Blues player and manager Graeme Souness imploring fans to “behave” or risk “trashy headlines which would damage us for a long long time”.
The team has put the club squarely back on the map in terms of European football with this run to the final, but UEFA have also cracked down in the form of four separate fines for fan behaviour.
But Alberto Blanca who runs a 600-room hotel in Seville has high hopes for the occasion despite admitting to some concerns.
“This is a great event for us. We are all fully booked,” he told BBC Scotland. “The city is going to be at 100%.
“We know the areas where they are going to be having fun are already well prepared so they don’t have to go to other places which maybe could be difficult to control.
“But Seville is absolutely ready to host this kind of event. We even wanted to have the Champions League final which went to Paris. We are ready for it.”
High stakes
Fans have unsurprisingly flocked to the city to be a part of what could be a once in a lifetime occasion if this historic run ends in victory.
The club’s faithful have been the subject of negative press a number of times just recently, including with the repeated fines from UEFA and glass bottles being thrown from the crowd at Ibrox during the Old Firm derby.
If Gers have specifically recorded a message from Souness in an attempt to remind people of their responsibilities then they clearly have some worries themselves.
On one of the biggest stages of the season they will be aware of the positives that can come in terms of profile, but also the risks for negative publicity.
With such a high number of fans travelling, which in itself is no bad thing and indicates the dedication of the club’s support, there only needs to a tiny percentage who cause trouble for the whole of the Bears contingent to come away with a bad reputation.
The supporters, particularly at Ibrox, have undoubtedly been fundamental to the players reaching this stage, but as has also been seen with other passionate fan-bases recently, including at Everton this weekend, there is all too often some who think everything is permitted in the name of backing your side.
It isn’t and while as usual the majority will remember that, it doesn’t negate the damage that a minority of fans can do to others or to their overall reputation, no matter how small.
The BBC report covers various Gers supporters who are no doubt there for all the right reasons, and Blanca speaks of a city that sounds prepared to accommodate, so thousands will be hoping that the prevailing memory of this week is of a first European trophy in half a century.
In other Rangers news, one strong performer in the weekend win at Hearts may have been playing one of his last games of the club according to the club’s pundit.