BrahimHemdani

After 3 trains and one flight I have a couple of hours to contemplate in Gatwick before the last leg home to Glasgow apparently 10 degrees warmer than Leipzig. I wonder if everyone buys into this "we can only learn from playing better teams" theory being espoused by MW. I note that AH conceded that 3 of the Leipzig goals came straight from us giving the ball away but also conceded that "we need to learn from that" must be this season's favourite phrase. If I am correct did the European and Olympic champion 1953 Hungarians not play a factory team as a warm up before thrashing England 6-3 at Wembley then 7-1 in Budapest. My point is - what does it do for player's confidence getting humped by an apparently fitter, faster, technically and tactically superior German team? Wouldn't we be better playing a friendly against some second or third division team preferably somewhere a bit warmer where we might at least have a chance (albeit not a guarantee) of imposing our style and tactics such as they are on lesser or opponents? I don't think we or our manager learned anything watching Leipzig run us ragged in sub zero temperatures yesterday. To be quite honest it was embarrassing to watch apart from freezing cold.

I suspect an honorary membership is on the way.

I deliberately excluded that one.

I see a smart chap with a skip cap near the Police van at the head of the march

Our one and only shot at goal in the 90 minutes was a weak effort from Waghorn in the 72 minute which was met with derisory cheering from the Rangers end.

Tavernier had great difficulty passing the ball to a Rangers player and was rightly replaced at half time. He needs to be replaced pemanently. It is not clear to me or perhaps Wilson if he is LCB or LB. If he is LCB then Mackay is not a LWB. Why did Windass get a game behind the striker which is Toral or Mackay's position, when we had two strikers on the bench? Why haven't we accepted the ridiculously good offer of two million pounds for Kiernan who is constantly caught in possession. How does the ineffective Halliday get a game at all? These and other questions need answered. Enough of the banal "we were beaten by a superb team and need to learn from it".

The German Police were exceptional. With the assistance of one of Strathclyde's finest they organised the march from the square to the ground with typical German efficiency; stopping numerous times along the mile route to allow stragglers to catch up and for the Union Bears to organise. They had the entire route blocked off and were stopping the trams as well as private cars. On the way back they showed and lit the way for those if us who, against their advice, did not want to wait in the sub zero temperature for the free fan buses to the city centre. I don't know about the team but we could learn a lot from the way the city and police organise these arrangements. A word also for the oft maligned Union Bears who were superbly well organised and marshalled at the front of the march to the stadium. There was just one short period when there were some snowballs thrown more at the vans than at the police themselves. I think this was because the perception was that they were going too slowly. The police donned riot helmets but it calmed down very quickly and they wisely withdrew to their vans. I am very pleased to say I did not see any sign of trouble.

On the contrary we tarnish our own reputation by this kind of crass, rude and disrespectful behaviour to our hosts who have gone out of their way to make us welcome and safe in their city. The "song" if you can call it that was being belted out by a fair section of the crowd midway through the first half. Personally I find it extremely embarrassing to say the least. Whatever you think of the song and I don't accept it is anti Nazi rather than antI German; it beggars belief that fans don't understand that this kind of behaviour gives the media exactly what they are looking for, whatever the Germans think of it.

We are shocking. One corner and no shots on goal in first half. Their pace is cutting through our defence like the proverbial hot knife through butter every time. Tavernier hasn't passed the ball to a Rangers player and is being completely exposed. We'll be lucky to escape less than 5-0. A significant number of Rangers fans have left at half time.

Rubbing your hosts noses in what happened during the war especially in a city like Leipzig that we bombed the shit out of is beyond the pale in terms of rude, irresponsible behaviour. We should be better than that, far far better than that. I'll condemn it at every opportunity.

This is appalling crass behaviour and an insult to our hosts. I repeat that Rangers fans are ambassadors for the Club, the City of Glasgow and Scotland. The good people of Leipzig and no doubt Berlin are very happy that we are visiting their cities. Let's keep it that way.

SteveC is 100% correct. Hopefully no one was recording anything in the Champions Bar last night.

I got to the Champions Bar around 11.30pm last night and between then and 1.00am it was absolutely jumping. Guys were literally up on the tables and chairs giving it laldy. The atmosphere was incredible and the locals appeared quite happy with some managing to watch the Atlanta Falcons in the play offs despite the mayhem around them. Apparently the staff there have posted some pictures on Facebook and it was also on the local TV. So far I have not heard any reports of problems apart from the snow.

UEFA may not be watching but they would have to act on any reports received. The Offensive Behaviour at Football etc Act was drafted specifically to catch any such behaviour by fans travelling or attending football matches abroad.

I need to correct dB on one point. All football clubs play under the jurisdiction of their national associations who in Europe come under the jurisdiction of UEFA. In Scotland senior football clubs must apply for authority to play friendlies so that an official referee can be appointed. Otherwise it would be unauthorised football and they would be in severe soapy bubble. I do not know for certain but I am fairly sure that both clubs involved in this match would require UEFA authority to play the match or at least RBL would need to have authority from the DFB to play the match and to that extent even if it is indirectly it would fall under the ultimate jurisdiction of UEFA. The point I am making is that just because it is a friendly does not mean that there are no rules of the conduct of spectators any more than there are no Laws of the Game.

I am pleased to report that so far I have not seen one police man or woman. There do not appear to be that many fans staying here but those who are here have had a few beers but have been well enough behaved. I did see one large group singing there way down a shopping street and expect to see much more tonight and tomorrow. There were a crowd off us in the Champions Bar boosting the profits of the Marriott Hotel last night. There was a fair bit of singing "unauthorised" songs (as you will appreciate I do not join in!) but there were no issues with the staff or some locals who were in and took it all with good humour. Fortunately they did not understand what was being sung. I left the youngsters too it at midnight. There was a grill festival in the main square today and again the beer tents got an unexpected boost. My one real concern is that there are a lot of young lads here who have never been on a European trip before and tend to drink more and quicker than those who are older and perhaps wiser. I hope they will remember that they are ambassadors of and for the Club, Glasgow and Scotland. This is a very nice city with a lot of Gothic? architecture and modern shops stocking typically high quality German clothes, food and drink. The two main department stores both have cheap wine bars to get you in shopping mode. I took in the Stasi Museum this morning which was very interesting. Quite a lot of folk have stopped me in the street with the enquiry "Glasgow?" and several fans of the rival Lokomotiv Leipzig team encouraging us to f*** RB. Will try to post some pics if I can figure out how to save them to Imgur on my phone.

All joking aside, no doubt Celtic fans will be screaming about some kind of conspiracy.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. The fact that supporters of many different clubs think it would be used against them, does tell you something.

Whilst any charges would be issued by paid officials, I would be fairly sure that cases will be heard by an independent tribunal such as dealt with the Motherwell case or more or less vindicated us on the question of EBT's.

If Kienan had not been stupid enough to clench his fist none of this would have happened. The video did not show the point of contact, ergo the not proven verdict.

I don't deny that Lawwell will act in what the perceives to be the best interests of his Club and as I said, the paid officials have no option other than to carry out the wishes of the Clubs expressed by the various Boards. It was ridiculous that Celtic had two representatives at the SFA but the fact that Stewart Robertson replaced Eric Riley on the PGB is a step in the right direction. Rangers need to work to ensure his election to the full Board and that of the SPFL to replace Ann Budge (Heart of Midlothian) or Ian Maxwell (Partick Thistle) I have no idea how many SNP MSPs or MPs support Rangers or any other team for that matter. I do know that there used to a sufficient number of Rangers supporting MP's to form a group at Westminster, Brian Donohoe was the Secretary IIRC. I don't think that's a productive discussion any more than past discussions about which teams referees supported before they became referees. As I have said previously, I do not think that politics (as distinct from government) goes well with football and I do not intend to get into a political discussion. What I will say, since you raise it; is that I was sufficiently concerned about the Govan pub incident to email my local SNP MP & MSP following which I had an opportunity to speak to Humza Yousaf about the incident. He claimed that it was just one of a number of businesses he and his team visited on the day; but accepted that it was ill-advised and understood that as a known Celtic fan, the perception amongst Rangers fans was somewhat different. I doubt he'll make the same mistake again.

I worked closely with Ministers, Civil Servants, the Police and the Football Authorities, in 2011/12 and whilst Club representatives will always promote their own interests and the officials are the representatives of the Clubs, I can assure that the Scottish Government does not have an agenda other than doing their best to eradicate unacceptable behaviour and the damage it does to the image of Scotland around the world. IIRC the Minister condemned the lack of effective action following the Cup Final and stated that strict liability would be imposed if the football authorities did not take effective action. We are now represented on the SFA Professional Game Board, we need to work to gain representation on the SPFL and full SFA Boards in order to exert more influence at the top of the game. Pete, I thank you for the compliment, but I am equally surprised that smart people like you, Craig and BD do not understand that this is going to happen, the only question , is when.

The whole of Scottish football will gain immensely from the imposition of strict liability; it is naïve in the extreme to think that the government will put up with the unacceptable conduct of some supporters ad infinitum.

I am surprised at you asking a question to which you surely know the answer - the government and the football authorities. We cannot decry the fact that action is not taken against Celtic and other Clubs for certain incidents, if we do not support a change in the rules that would make it far easier to take the said action. As you know well, UEFA imposes significant sanctions under the principle of strict liability for incidents that go unpunished or are subject to much lighter punishment in Scotland.

If you're referring to me, then I don't mind in the least and I agree.