Brechin and entering

[ian1964 10,873]

RANGERS began their long road to recovery yesterday â?? with a party thrown by their army of loyal fans.

 

Thousands of travelling supporters swamped the tiny ground of Brechin City to witness a new dawn for the new Gers as they begin life in Scottish footyâ??s basement.

 

Pubs and shops were packed as hordes of Ibrox diehards descended on the Angus town, population 7,000, to see their teamâ??s Ramsdens Cup clash.

 

On the park, the resurrected Glasgow outfit â?? playing their first competitive game â?? almost suffered an embarrassing exit in the opening round.

 

Midfield veteran Lee McCulloch spared their blushes with an extra-time winner against the minnows â?? who play above them in Division two.

 

Legions of fans travelled from across Britain to watch their sideâ??s first game since the pain of liquidation.

 

Supportersâ?? buses began arr-iving in Brechin THREE HOURS before kick-off at 3.05pm.

 

The town centre was turned into a sea of red, white and blue and hundreds of Bears cheered on the team bus â?? which had club anthem Simply the Best blaring out â?? as it arrived at Glebe Park.

 

Angus Mansfield, 64, drove from Yorkshire to see his heroes.

 

The MoD worker said: â??I had to leave at 7am but I wouldnâ??t have missed this for the world.â?

 

Delighted Heather Laird told how gaffer Ally McCoist chatted to her wheelchair-bound son James, eight, before the game.

 

Heather, 37, from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, said: â??We go to all the games and Allyâ??s a real gentleman. This is a new start and weâ??ll work our way back to the top.â?

 

Helen Carr, 41, and Karen Miller, 43, both from Glasgow, revealed their EXCITEMENT over life in the bottom tier of the national game.

 

Helen said: â??Itâ??s a relief to be back playing football again.

 

â??I am actually looking forward to this season as it will be a chance for my wee boy to go and see clubs he wouldnâ??t have seen.â?

 

Karen added: â??It is great to see the boys back kicking a ball again. It will be a great journey back to the top.â?

 

Gary Parker, 36, and mate Stuart Pedley, 39, displayed a huge banner showing their support for fansâ?? hero McCoist.

 

Gary, from Stirling, said: â??Weâ??re looking forward to making our way back to the top â?? we wonâ??t desert our team.â?

 

And Stuart, from Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, added: â??Itâ??s the start of a new era. We will be with the team every step of the way.â?

 

Alan Cook, 30, of Moodiesburn, near Glasgow, said: â??It was a nerve-wracking first game but we got the victory.

 

â??We have been through some dark days but we are now on the road to recovery.â?

 

The cheers could be heard throughout the town when Rangers took the lead after just four minutes.

 

But the remainder of the match was a nail-biter until Gers fired home the winning goal â?? in a ground which sported flash Scottish Sun advertising boards saying â??From Page 3 to Division 3â??.

 

Paul Murray, 31, from Glasgow, said: â??Itâ??s a wonderful start and a great way to start our long journey back. We WILL be best team in Scotland again.â?

 

Linda Campbell, 36, of Carnoustie, Angus, made the short trip with daughter Rebeka, 13. She said: â??Weâ??ll give our money to the teams in the lower leagues instead of SPL teams who didnâ??t want us.â?

 

Even Brechin and CELTIC fan Maciej Zdwieski, 50, from Poland, admitted he enjoyed the carnival atmosphere.

 

He said: â??Iâ??ve lived in Brechin for eight years and this is one of the best days ever. It has been a wonderful day for the community.â?

 

Pubs were filled to bursting point as 4,000 fans flocked to Glebe Park â?? with many ticketless punters making the trip to be part of history.

 

Alan Renilson, 50, owner of the Stables boozer, revealed he did FIVE times his normal trade.

 

The pub made itself ticket-only to make sure it wasnâ??t swamped by too many fans.

 

Some 170 briefs were snapped up by both sets of fans, who were allowed entry for a pre-match pint.

 

Boss Alan said: â??We normally get around 150 punters on a Sunday but we served at least 600 people by closing time.â?

 

The local chippy also coined it in and had to order DOUBLE the amount of fish.

 

Ashvale Chip Shop boss Valerie Newton, 51, said: â??It is a great boost for the town.â?

 

Worker David Hepburn added: â??The town has been excited about this match for days. It has been incredible.â?

 

Joyce Glendinning, 51, behind the match hospitality grub for Brechin, reckons she had to provide TREBLE the amount of food. She said: â??The town has been a part of football history.â?

 

Last night Tayside Police said there had been one arrest for alleged breach of the peace after a fan, 23, climbed a floodlight and a probe had been launched into claims sectarian comments were made and eight smoke bombs were let off.

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4462210/Rangers-fans-take-over-Brechin-City.html

[Guest Dutchy]

A great party atmosphere there by the fans. Really wish I could have afforded to go up, but it seems like we did Scottsh football pround with our fantastic travelling support.

[Guest sergi]

A great day was had by all. Just wonder if the other side will be Investigated for sectarian comments when the spl kick off?

[calscot 0]

I was disappointed in some of the songs.

 

Don't know why we are singing about our hatred of Celtic... they seem irrelevant to me at the moment.

 

And I wish some would shut up about how beautiful and finely coloured their father's sash is. I really wonder who is interested in sashes at a football match?

[andy steel 0]

Ah come on, you would have needed the hearing of a bat and the thin skin of a hymen to be offended by anything from yesterday.

 

'We are Rangers, Super Rangers! No-one likes us, we don't care. We hmm mffmwhm, mfff ffhhhmpfhhh, and we'll hmfff hmfff, hmfffyhmmmfh.'

[ian1964 10,873]

[video=youtube;PyOP-ijCy-w]

[calscot 0]

Ah come on, you would have needed the hearing of a bat and the thin skin of a hymen to be offended by anything from yesterday.

 

'We are Rangers, Super Rangers! No-one likes us, we don't care. We hmm mffmwhm, mfff ffhhhmpfhhh, and we'll hmfff hmfff, hmfffyhmmmfh.'

 

Trouble is, when you know the words you can't help hearing them - your brain sorts it out... I don't know if I heard it clearly but it sure sounded like it.

 

However, I think we should learn a wee something from our recent kicking by SPL clubs and take the opportunity of the three year break to rid ourselves of some distasteful baggage and come back on the wave of a moral high ground - and with 29 new friends.

 

If we clean up our act, they will be exposed as the true bigots of our blighted leagues. They will have a loan voice that will be despised in SPL grounds when there is no made up super-villain for them to point the finger at and claim victim-hood to detract from their vile manifesto.

 

Celtic have beaten us to a pulp in the propaganda phony war. The way to rise again and triumph takes some moral fortitude but it doesn't seem that many of our fans are capable. You could say that maybe they are just not Rangers class.

Edited July 30, 2012 by calscot

[Guest Dutchy]

That was a great party atmosphere, why all the panic about words. I've heard worse in comedy programmes on the telly.

[andy steel 0]

Trouble is, when you know the words you can't help hearing them - your brain sorts it out... I don't know if I heard it clearly but it sure sounded like it.

 

However, I think we should learn a wee something from our recent kicking by SPL clubs and take the opportunity of the three year break to rid ourselves of some distasteful baggage and come back on the wave of a moral high ground - and with 29 new friends.

 

If we clean up our act, they will be exposed as the true bigots of our blighted leagues. They will have a loan voice that will be despised in SPL grounds when there is no made up super-villain for them to point the finger at and claim victim-hood to detract from their vile manifesto.

 

Celtic have beaten us to a pulp in the propaganda phony war. The way to rise again and triumph takes some moral fortitude but it doesn't seem that many of our fans are capable. You could say that maybe they are just not Rangers class.

 

I don't disagree really, but it's possible to take this too far. I can't see any reason why we should sing King Billy's on the Wall and I would rather we didn't; but if some people wish to go down that road they aren't doing anything wrong, so it's hardly up to me to ban it. Likewise with The Sash, have no affiliation to the subtext but have equally no right to insist on its removal.

 

Sometimes we just have to put up with things we don't approve of. Providing there's no banned stuff in them, carry on.

[Thinker 887]

Personally, I think we should sing positive stuff about our club and country. (And, BTW, I wasn't too chuffed when the Brechin fans booed the national anthem.)

 

It bugs me when Septic fans who've most likely never set foot in Ireland, apart from the odd stag-do, sing sonds about Irish history - and to be even-handed I'd have to say the same about some of our lot. If you're from Northern Ireland fair enough, if you're born and raised in Scotland sing songs about Scotland.