917

Dunno if 3rd charge is true, but now that blaming any trouble on “Hammarby” fans is an official defence, why don’t we try that one??

1 hour ago, JFK-1 said:

The smoke pretty much completely engulfed the pitch. Can only imagine what it was like closer to the source.

I sit in BR2 and you basically couldn’t see Allan McGregor’s goal at the time. Had no idea the ref stopped the game. Luckily nobody panicked, but if that had been an English PL ground folk would have been tripping over their half n half scarves in the ensuing stampede..

Shouldn’t be much for FARE to report tonight (from us anyway) but you never know with them. Indeed, we could be at least fined because the banner the club put up was too wee. There will be a rule about dimensions..

Hope we get Man Utd. Fans would want to avoid St Etienne, I’ve been there..

Tims could get Wolves, Wolfsburg & Wolfsberger in the same group ?

26 minutes ago, rbr said:

Legia have only conceded 1 goal in the qualifiers and are out , that’s how tough this game was 

Shite going forward though. That being said, Katic was outstanding & I now think we actually signed Helander as his long term replacement. Because Niko is heading south for £10million in a couple of years!

32 minutes ago, Briton said:

I didn't twig either.  

I thought it looked like JP. Shows you how stupid these Uefa raps are. Do Legia fans take 50 foot Popes to other games? No, they brought it tonight hoping we would respond & get thrown out of the competition. Still, we beat them fair & square. Unlike that other mob..

Well that could not have went any better! The quietest I have heard Ibrox before a game, but really built up to a crescendo at the climax. No Billy boys, fairly subdued for the most part like an EPL ground yet it ended up the loudest ending to a game in years! Fans thinking before singing for once.

UBs turned up in balaclavas but never got in, yet ironically the loudest songs were non sectarian tunes which they have introduced in recent years, eg 4 lads had a dream, super Rangers (not the Rod Stewart version) every Saturday we follow & Buffalo soldier. So shows what they could achieve if they screw the proverbial nut!

Sadly I think this might be my last ever European match at Ibrox tonight. It is impossible to concentrate on the football when you’re on edge for 90 minutes, not worrying about the other team scoring but worrying about what the fans are going to sing! Or worrying about Rangers scoring in case the fans celebrate with the wrong song.. football is no longer enjoyable, or at least no more enjoyable than watching it on the TV, so why bother paying Uefa the money??

23 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Agreed which in my view not only makes them a liability the club can't afford but not legitimate fans in the full sense of the word. Legitimate fans put the interests of the club ahead of their own personal preferences when it comes to behaviour at games. These people clearly don't put the club first.

 

That being the case they simply have to go if the club is ever going to reach previous heights. It's up to the club to decide how that is to be accomplished but it must be accomplished swiftly or we could lose badly needed millions of pounds in revenue. It could even cost us our manager who may ultimately decide he can't be linked to such activities.

These fans don’t have to go, they have to grow up. It is part of becoming an adult to realise that just because you don’t like the rules of something doesn’t mean you can get away with breaking the rules. Or at least don’t video yourself breaking said laws & post it on social media! It just isn’t worth the punishment. I realise not all adults do grow up, but we have to start somewhere. 

The club are firefighting just now, however after this week is over we all need to sit down & get to grips with this. Radical measures are required. These measures are basically draconian, but things like:

- over 18s only on European nights. Going by my twitter feed, the young team are determined to keep singing these songs.

- breathalise every fan before entry (up to 3 pints being acceptable)

- only season ticket holders allowed in to European games

- nobody with a criminal record, esp for violence or sectarianism, allowed a season ticket

- an increased hardline, visible club stewarding presence, like nightclub bouncers.

I hope tomorrow we see that self policing and common sense will prevail, even if Ibrox is quieter as a result, but I think the daft young Bears aren’t going to behave. Tomorrow is shaping up as the most important night in the club’s history, regardless of the match!

6 minutes ago, Frankie said:

A further charge from the Legia away leg now. 

 

As such club will refuse tickets for our next away European match. 

Probably merits another thread. Seems strange that this time they have actually announced charges before the verdict and punishment - why didn’t they do this the last time? We can only speculate about what is going on behind the scenes but we are finished in European football at this rate!

Only 4 places through the champions route now, and 2 for non-champions. Down from 5 and 5. So all 4 each from Spain, England, Germany & Italy now go through automatically, plus 3 from France, 2 from Russia (+1 in qualifiers) & 1+1 from Portugal, Ukraine, Belgium (!) Turkey & Austria (!!). None from Holland..

These seedings seem to give an advantage to teams in Europa league though, as I can’t remember any Belgian or Austrian team doing anything in CL. So doing well in the EL could get Scottish teams back into the CL, confusingly..

2 hours ago, Bluedell said:

When Piara Powar was in charge of Kick It Out, the KIO newsletter of 8 June 2007 stated:

 

"It has taken 25 years for a professional Jewish Football League player to break through - so meet Joe Jacobson, proof that this community does not stop at owning clubs and trading players."

 

It's stereotyping Jewish people but Powar didn't see it that way and didn't have a problem with it, which presumably fits in with his political views.

 

Unfortunately I can't find his reply to me.
 

I doubt his views will have changed much though, so he is an open goal. There is a lot of Antifa stuff on his twitter, & anti Semitic comments 12 years ago can still be used against him, if anybody had the political guts (or time) to go after the head of an ‘anti-racist’ lobbying group.

I never even clocked that Barker was a new signing. Hastie must have been in as an under 21 player. The big number 11 Barker had a bit more joy on the left wing than Hastie on the right, but in truth neither created much for Mebude at all, which must worry Steven Gerrard, who I got told was at the game. Young Atakayi actually created a lot more when he came on.

Just realised tonight that there are only 6 qualifying slots available - it was 10 last year. So 26 clubs go through automatically, & the rest have basically next to bvgger all chance of qualifying at all?? This needs reformed if we are to ever see Rangers play in the Champions League again.

I was at tonight’s game, ironically having to drive 20 miles completely bypassing Glasgow. The rules state the game has to be played at a league ground, so that ruled out Auchenhowie.

It was dire for 60 minutes, Rangers dominating possession & Barjonas pulling all the strings in midfield, but few chances were created by either side. Rangers 2 first team players were Hastie & Polster, neither of whom impressed though Hastie almost had his leg broke by a challenge in the 1st half & US international Polster was playing in midfield.

I don’t think Thistle fielded their strongest team, but the game really opened up after an hour when Thistle brought on what appeared to be 4 first team players. They then created chances, but we responded & with 5 mins to go we forced the Thistle keeper into a superb double save. As happens, they then went up the park & scored 2 goals, the first an unlucky OG after a goalmouth scramble, the second a good finish after our young defenders had chucked it.

To sum up, we certainly didn’t deserve to lose against the tournament favourites, but the boys hopefully learned that you can’t just keep trying to walk the ball into the net against men. Barjonas was my MOTM, but possibly needs to attempt less of the Zinedine Zidane passes at times. Rangers not out of this Cup yet though.

11 hours ago, ian1964 said:

 

Leggo’s article ironically now, blames the Labour council for allowing one IRA march & helpfully suggests we should all vote them out at the forthcoming (in 2012) GCC elections. I hope nobody voted SNP on the basis of this article.. they now have IRA marches every other weekend! 

Give over, the Fiorentina - Napoli game on Saturday night was worth the £9.99 on its own..

Should be less demand for a home game as well, so easier to log on.

Hopefully FARE will report the tartan army for racism when they boo him.. I won’t hold my breath though!

I would welcome this, however there has been no indication that the board are unhappy with Stewart Robertson. But maybe the Uefa ban has changed things. I doubt it though.

Helpfully here is a recent tweet where he spells out how you too can make €’s out of racism..

14 minutes ago, 917 said:

Also he supported the celtic pro-palestinian display, despite Uefa fining them for it. Some groups, eg the Jewish Chronicle newspaper would describe this sort of demonstration as anti Semitic (though I wouldn’t personally) Also, when Luis Suarez got done for racism thanks to FARE, Liverpool fans went after him & he responded by calling one black Liverpool fan a ‘coconut’ - a racist term itself. This guy should be targetted & his credibility called into question. @piarapowar

He also has another tweet where he condones Scotland supporters “naughty songs” in Trafalgar square. Doesn’t mention him filing a report on them to Uefa.. the guy is an open goal, but nobody will expose him for fear of being seen to condone racism.

4 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

I pulled Powar up about his stereotyping of Jewish people while at KIO. I think it was in a newsletter email. He denied it of course. I'll have a look tomorrow to see if I can find it. 

Also he supported the celtic pro-palestinian display, despite Uefa fining them for it. Some groups, eg the Jewish Chronicle newspaper would describe this sort of demonstration as anti Semitic (though I wouldn’t personally) Also, when Luis Suarez got done for racism thanks to FARE, Liverpool fans went after him & he responded by calling one black Liverpool fan a ‘coconut’ - a racist term itself. This guy should be targetted & his credibility called into question. @piarapowar

2 hours ago, Thinker said:

Personally, I don't get involved in any of this kind of stuff, but to summarise the situation:

 

We know that UEFA have been convinced (by FARE or Lawell or whoever) that ****** is a sectarian term and have made its use punishable.

Despite the fact that hun is considered a sectarian term by the police in Northern Ireland, nobody has successfully convinced UEFA to add it to their list.

 

The upshot of this is that the green brigade could hold up a banner that read: "We are the ****** army, and we say kill all huns" and nothing would be done, whereas if the Union Bears held up a banner reading: "We object to being called huns, and we say fuck the ****** army" we'd be penalised for it.
 

As others have said, the chances of UEFA reversing their decision on the word "******" is absolutely zero. There's no point in continuning to test this by singing - it will inevitably result in Rangers being fined and supporters being banned. The only move left for us to make is (imho) to take them down too, by campaigning for parity so that the word "hun" is similarly prohibited. If opposing fans start receiving sanctions for goading us, the basis of the whole "whatabout what they get away with" argument is gone.

 

We need to do this before the SFA bring in their own liability rules that are "in line with UEFA's".

Agree 100%. The reason Hun isn’t classed as racist in law, in my opinion is simply because nobody has ever campaigned for it to be. This term is invariably used to target the Orange Order, or those seen to be associated with the Ulster Scots community, ie. Rangers supporters. The OO are a genuine religious minority, yet it seems to me they are sleepwalking into extinction because they don’t demand to be treated as such. Members seem to still believe they are the majority in Scotland, they aren’t though as most Protestants in Scotland don’t support them these days. Proper 21st century leadership is required, look at how eg the Jewish community respond to those who hate them. Writing to papers, canvassing MPs etc. We could start by complaining to Uefa about FARE chief Piara Power and his apparent anti semitic tweets & tweets condoning anti English chants at Scotland matches. But where is this leadership?