Barry Ferguson sends message to Rangers fans after what he heard from Ibrox
Barry Ferguson hopes Rangers fans heed Philippe Clement’s warnings after the manager criticised the pyrotechnics display at Dundee on Wednesday.
As quoted by the Glasgow Times (1 November), Clement revealed that the pause in play caused by a fire alarm being triggered at Dens Park was “not a good thing” as it broke the rhythm of his team’s play.
Rangers ultimately won the twice-delayed Scottish Premiership clash 5-0 but Ferguson hopes that Clement’s words cause a shift in behaviour among fans who organised the display.
“Everyone knows how I feel about the Rangers fans. As I’ve written many times in this column, I consider myself to be one of them,” Ferguson said on the Daily Record website on Friday (3 November).
“And I must admit, the scenes at Dens Park on Wednesday night, when they set off a coordinated pyrotechnic display at the start of the game against Dundee, really did look the part. But it all threatened to backfire even more spectacularly on the team and on manager Philippe Clement when the fire alarms went off and the police ordered both teams off the pitch.
“And that’s why I hope the supporters were listening afterwards when Clement pleaded with them to park the pyro for the foreseeable future and focus purely on giving their passion and backing to the players. Unfortunately, the risk to health and safety cannot be ignored, no matter how impressive it may look to the rest of us. And, after hearing what the manager had to say about it, the guys who organise this stuff will hopefully realise they’ve got to toe the line from now on.
“Because – and this is the most important part of it as far as I’m concerned – these things are dangerous at the best of times, never mind in enclosed spaces with thousands of people around. The last thing we want to see is someone getting badly injured by one of them. Or worse. But I don’t think for one minute these fans travelled all the way up the road the other night looking to cause a security issue or put their fellow fans at risk.”
Dangerous – and pointless
How does waving a few flares around show unity?
You can show unity by showing up, for starters, while there are all sorts of other ways such as singing in support of the team and their manager or pulling off some of the impressive displays the Union Bears have done at Ibrox over the years.
Scottish football has a real problem with flares and smoke bombs being smuggled into stadiums.
They are banned, yet the stewarding at this level is so poor that clearly, anyone can bring anything into the grounds even if it is a safety threat.
Rangers fans who organised this display would have known the risks of setting off flares – they’re not stupid – so we’re not having that defence from Ferguson.
It was just stupid and it could have seriously impeded the team who had to sit in severe traffic before the delayed kick off at Dens.
Clement’s right but he should have been harsher in his verdict on the scenes.
In other Rangers news, an update on “sanctions” against the club for the Dundee incident has emerged.