Zenit St. Petersburg Vs Rangers (UEFA Cup Final) - Page 42

endless psych · 18th May 2008, 1:41pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkMono

I was just thinking that "Ninety minutes of Hate" would be an awesome name for a band. Something in the thread must have inspired both of us.

Might use it.

Better name for an album.

Syxx · 18th May 2008, 1:45pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by XMachina

So why the pic of Artur Boruc then?

Out the park.

AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS · 19th May 2008, 1:31pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by XMachina

So why the pic of Artur Boruc then?

Because it has a picture of the dog who was biting a rangers fan (a murderer), at the Uefa Cup final, in manchester, then.
Obviously a light hearted spin on his God Bless the Pope t-shirt, and a pop at the thug being bitten, rather than being about Celtic.

Surely you're brain was able to process that without my aid?

Anyway....Joan McAlpine, as well as Mr Speirs, seems to be re-iterating my point;
It's a Rangers problem.

Good article.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...Submitted=true

Quote:

We must face Ranger's problem fans.
If all of Scotland is not to suffer, we need to admit that Rangers have a specific problem.

by Joan McAlpine.

It wasn't a minority of Rangers fans who trashed Manchester last week. It was the jocks, the Scots, the “Glaswegian scum.” That is the view of many people who witnessed the thuggery at first hand.

Let's be honest: this is a public relations disaster for our country and its biggest city. The politicians and journalists who blamed the authorities, the police and some “isolated trouble-makers” should consider that.

If all of Scotland is not to suffer, they need to admit that Rangers have a specific problem and the dreadful scenes were not entirely unexpected. If it's a minority, it's a significant one that reflects the general scent of sectarian nastiness that clings to the club, despite the best efforts of its chairman, directors and decent supporters.

This is a Rangers problem, not a Scottish problem, nor even an Old Firm problem. The Tartan Army has built a global reputation for its sense of fair play and fun. Five years ago, 80,000 Celtic fans went without tickets to Seville, a far smaller city than Manchester. They left with an open letter of thanks from the mayor and later collected a good behaviour award from Fifa.

These are mere technicalities to many of the 314 readers who posted comments on the Manchester Evening News website, deploring not just the rioters, but the “drunken Scots” generally. Vanessa was one contributor who felt intimidated as she walked home through a city centre strewn with cans and faeces because public transport was cancelled. She wrote: “I heard people singing ‘Manchester is a shit-hole'. Maybe, but it wasn't before you lot came, so please go back to Glasgow.”

Another anticipated the violence during his commute to work on Wednesday morning, thanks to “The sight of car after car-load of jolly Scots parked on the hard shoulder of the M61, breakfasting on Tennents lager and urinating in the bushes.”

Many residents saw it as yet another example of the deterioration in Anglo-Scots relations. “All we needed was Mel Gibson in front shouting ‘Freedom!' and this mob would be marching to Derby,” said one. The wearing of Union Jack hats by the invaders must have made it all the more confusing for the beleaguered Mancunians. Still, the fault was laid at Holyrood's door: “When will the Scottish parliament pay for the clean-up of their filth? When will they apologise to Manchester?” asked one reader.

Such views will not be confined to Lancashire. Scenes of wobbly-bellied, snarling Scots stamping on a policeman's head were beamed around the world on the BBC and Yahoo news websites and Sky TV, while Radio Five Live broadcast eyewitness accounts of the mayhem through the night.

One man who clearly didn't pay much attention to the coverage, perhaps because he withdrew from the world in disappointment after the defeat, was Murdo Fraser, deputy leader of the Conservative group in Holyrood. Fraser is best known as a hang 'em and flog 'em Tory of the old school despite his relative youth, but for a moment he appeared to defect to the Socialist Workers party. The fascist pigs were to blame, apparently: “There are serious questions to be asked in terms of policing - if there was an overreaction in deploying riot police which could have inflamed the situation.”

Fraser later tempered these comments when faced with the CCTV images of fans kicking PC Mick Regan after he fell while attempting to escape a shower of missiles. Fraser should not have needed this evidence, but he was not alone in denial. Stephen Smith of the Rangers Supporters Trust condemned the loutish behaviour as “utterly inexcusable” and the work of a tiny minority. But he couldn't resist a dig at rivals when he said that, if identified, Rangers would take action - “unlike other clubs who have failed to punish their fans for their bad behavior”. Attack is the best form of defence, but this was inappropriate and poorly timed, particularly as Smith also condemned the “heavy-handed police tactics”.

He is at least representative. Acres of newsprint and vast expanses of cyberspace last week were taken up by Rangers fans blaming the police for the violence and Manchester for being “unprepared” for the invasion. Less sympathy was expressed for the 15 injured officers or the stabbed Zenit fan. Instead of blaming everyone else, we should admit there is a problem within the Rangers support, some of whom - like those England fans of yore - have a master-race mentality. That is why the club was censured by Uefa for violence at Villarreal two years ago. That is why Spanish riot police charged at their supporters in Pamplona last year. Heavy-handedness was also blamed then. It is time for the majority of fans we are told are honourable to learn from the tartan army and adopt selfpolicing. Any supporter who steps out of line - and that includes sectarian chanting - should be challenged immediately by others in order to uphold the reputation of the group.

The really sad thing is that, for once, Rangers had most of the nation behind them. The colourful, carnival atmosphere in both Glasgow and Manchester suggested a corner had been turned. This is a team whose supporters sing a song about how everybody hates us but we don't care. Perhaps not everybody in Scotland loved them unreservedly last week, but most wished them well.

When my own little girl declared that she was supporting Rangers because they were the Scottish team, I encouraged her. I was moved by a radio interview with a very emotional Ally McCoist ahead of the game. The Rangers assistant manager, who was speaking to an equally choked Chick Young, talked with the simple honesty of a small boy about his late father, who could not share the moment with him.

McCoist, like his boss Walter Smith, is a fantastic ambassador for the Scottish game. He made me forget that time a bunch of Rangers fans started shouting the C-word at my then eight-year-old daughter because they recognised her father, a well-known musician with an Irish Catholic name. I even forgot, temporarily, the more recent incident when Rangers fans tried to derail the underground train on which I was travelling, bouncing rhythmically to chants about Fenian scum.

I was one of many Scots who set aside old divisions and rooted for Rangers last Wednesday. Our goodwill was abused. Now we are all tarnished by the same filth that littered the streets of Manchester.

joan.mcalpine@sunday-times.co.uk

*clap*clap*

**GreatKingRat** · 19th May 2008, 1:36pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS

Because it has a picture of the dog who was biting a rangers fan (a murderer)

A murderer? Have I missed something?

Zippy · 19th May 2008, 1:37pm

I never thought I'd see it but it seems the Scottish media is finally (well a minority of them) waking up to what we've known for years!

MarkMono · 19th May 2008, 1:43pm

How is it a public relations disaster if politicians and the media are blaming the city council and the police? Isn't that the opposite, isn't that avoiding and/or covering up a public relations disaster?

The deterioration of Anglo-Scots relations? When? Where? Did it start last Wednesday?

I know its only opinion writing but its a pretty disconnected rant. The only thing I can find to agree with in that article is that it was Rangers supporters who caused the trouble.

AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS · 19th May 2008, 1:46pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkMono

I know its only opinion writing but its a pretty disconnected rant. The only thing I can find to agree with in that article is that it was Rangers supporters who caused the trouble.

That's because you don't know alot about the history of the club involved, making you debating this pretty fucking redundant unless you go and learn about it.

MarkMono · 19th May 2008, 1:48pm

What do you think I'm not getting here?

AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS · 19th May 2008, 1:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatKingRat

A murderer? Have I missed something?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1176023.ece

Quote:

DOG BITE YOB GOT LIFE FOR MURDER

A THUG pictured being savaged by a police dog during the shocking UEFA Cup final soccer riot is a convicted MURDERER.

Shaven-headed Glasgow Rangers fan Alexander Aitkenhead, 38, was jailed for life after stabbing a man to death.

He was bitten after the match in Manchester between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday — which was marred by drunken violence.

The Sun pictured Aitkenhead angrily confronting cops just before an alsatian bit him.

We can now reveal he got life in 1987, aged 17, for killing his brother-in-law in a row over his sister.

Life

A year was added to his sentence in 1992 for punching and kicking a prison officer, but he was freed more than a year ago.