Tam McManus rips into Rangers fans for singing during minutes silence in Viaplay Cup final v Celtic
Tam McManus was absolutely furious with Rangers fans for singing anti-Celtic songs during a minute of silence during the Viaplay Cup final.
A minute of silence was held for Ron Gordon before the game, but it was interrupted by chants from both sets of fans at Hampden Park which sparked unhappiness from McManus at the time.
But the former Hibernian striker has gone one further now and branded them “morons” for their “disgusting” behaviour, calling for the club to do something about it.
“An element within the Rangers support had a decency and class bypass after desecrating the minute’s tribute to mark the passing of the Easter Road chairman,” he wrote in his column for the Daily Record (1 March).
“It takes a special type of moron to refuse to give 60 seconds to show some respect. It was disgusting behaviour which doesn’t reflect well on their club, whose officials should be condemning it.
“I’ve seen it all but I’ll never just shrug and shake my head – it should be called out always. Belting out the ‘Billy Boys’ during the brief moment when fans were asked, at the very least, to stay quiet was the action of bampots.
“Celtic fans reacted by booing and there you had it – a reminder at Hampden on Sunday that the Old Firm rivalry is always used as a platform of hate by the knuckle-draggers.”
Awful
It was said at the time that the whole ordeal was nasty and uncalled for, and we stand by it.
The club should definitely be doing more to ensure this type of thing doesn’t happen, but it’s not just Rangers fans who were involved and the other side should be getting some blame too.
The rivalry is more than football, we all know that, but that doesn’t excuse the nasty behaviour in the crowd during what was meant to be a minute of respect and reflection.
Fans who can’t put rivalry to the side for a minute shouldn’t be attending games really, as it shows they’re not there to support the team but more to get one over on the opponents’ fans.
Hopefully the club will make a statement and a stand about it all to show that we can rise above it, because it’s not good enough and we have to accept responsibility.
In other Rangers news, the club have identified an alternative option should a first-team regular not sign a new deal before the summer.