George Overhill

Thu 2 November 2023 17:10, UK

Jim White has suggested that Rangers supporters generated controversy at Dundee on Wednesday night because Celtic fans had been given so much “airtime” earlier in the day.

The talkSPORT host asked Simon Jordan on 2 November whether the two sides of the Old Firm are trying to “embarrass themselves” after pyrotechnics in the away end of the 5-0 Gers win at Dundee caused a lengthy stoppage the night before, in the wake of the Hoops suspending the season tickets of a section of their own fans amid an argument over, among other things, displaying Palestinian flags.

As Jordan suggested those with flares at Dens Park might just be “morons” White wondered if they had deliberately caused a storm as a reaction to a lengthy discussion on Wednesday’s show about the Celtic supporters.

White said (10.51am): “Cue Rangers, what did they do? They were up at Dundee, and two minutes into the game at Dens Park the away end was lit up with flares and huge amount of smoke, set off the fire alarms inside the stadium and there was chaos.

“Security were called in and two minutes into the game there was an 18-minute delay. I’m going to ask you this morning, are certain sections of the Old Firm supporters doing their best to embarrass themselves and their clubs?”

Jordan replied: “Well that’s an apt characterisation. You can’t say anything else but that. It’s very correct also to say ‘certain sections’ rather than lump everybody in… there is a sense of entitlement around certain sections of fanbases that they can do, say, act how they want, when they want…

“I don’t know why this is happening now. I don’t know whether society is operating in a certain way where people are very angry, disenfranchised, disillusioned, and use football as an excuse to behave in a certain way, or it’s just a segment of morons who think they can do precisely what they want, when they want, how they want.”

Coming back to the comparison between the two Glasgow rivals White later asked (10.59am): “Because Celtic, and a section of their support, got so much airtime yesterday, do you think Rangers made up for that?”

“Ah, well I’d like to think that people have got a little bit more about them than that,” Jordan responded, “I’d like to think they wouldn’t want to be in a ritual of ‘who’s race to the bottom can we have first?’.

“I just think it’s a segment of the fanbase that are behaving in a way that’s disproportionate to the overall value of both football clubs.”

Stretch

Whatever the view of the Rangers support at Dundee it seems pretty unlikely that they were trying to get the spotlight off their Celtic rivals.

The 5-0 result has been overshadowed by the focus on what was happening in the stands, on a chaotic night where kick off had already been significantly delayed by the team’s struggles to reach the stadium.

There will be some of the Light Blues fanbase that fully back those who travelled to Dundee and showed their support with flares, while other supporters will be embarrassed by the whole affair.

Jordan is right that it is inaccurate to characterise an entire group of fans, especially of a club the size of Rangers, as a homogenous group, so opinions will vary.

Either way the club could probably do without the media attention on the fans, especially when the players bounced back from a slog of a win over Hearts to comfortably dispatch Dundee, with struggling players such as Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers making a positive contribution.

And while the two sides of the Old Firm are intrinsically linked, it would appear fairly outlandish for elements of the Rangers support to have decided to outdo their opposite numbers in terms of negative press.

In other Rangers news, Neil Lennon of all people has sprung to the defence of a Gers ace in the face of criticism.