Is Martin Bain really serious about demanding a thorough UEFA investigation into the chaotic scenes in Bucharest? If so, I hope he sticks around for long enough to make sure it gets to the root of the issue, rather than turning into yet another Rangers-bashing exercise.
Let me state at the outset that I gave this European trip a body-swerve. Romania has never featured on my must-see list. I’ve heard of the people being surly and shifty, the sort you’d be reluctant to turn your back on, and those shop-lifting, pocket-picking Big Issue sellers I’ve encountered in Glasgow have done nothing to change my mind. Watching the half-time rammy unfold on Sky had me giving myself a big Captain Sensible pat on the back for staying at home.
When a few on-the-spot texts later spoke of incompetent stewarding and heavy-handing policing - and I was informed that some Bears hadn’t taken too kindly to being locked out of the ground because not enough turnstiles were open - I just knew what would be splashed across the papers next day. True to form, the Scottish media didn’t let me down, nor were UEFA slow in pointing the finger of blame in Rangers’ direction, hastily levelling charges within 24 hours.
Bain’s call for a full probe into events certainly did nothing to make me feel better. Well, remembering similar indignant appeals following dangerous overcrowding at Stuttgart (03) and Bratislava (05), Martin’s angry (but brief!) response to police brutality in Pamplona (07) and our club’s non-existent defence against the post-Manchester (08) demonisation of our fantastic support, I just can’t imagine any plea for an impartial judgement being heeded this time around.
Rangers’ history of pathetic capitulation is about to come home to roost. Fines have been imposed and warnings have been issued so, as the Hack Pack take great delight in telling us, we can have no complaints if UEFA now decide to throw the book at us.
Well, what do you expect when you roll over meekly over the singing of the Billy Boys; what do you expect when you allow those who would gladly see our club put out of the game to grab the moral high ground in the sectarianism debate, clearing the way for the criminalisation of the Why Don't You Go Home refrain; what do you expect when disreputable politicians, both local and national, can demonise our great club without fear of reproach; and what do you expect when you give journalists (discredited or otherwise) a free hand to set a blatantly anti-Rangers agenda?
The Thursday morning Press Gangsters rattled out our previous convictions with great relish and Rangers can expect UEFA to do likewise. Aye, what do you expect when, having already been cleared of any wrong-doing, you shrug your shoulders and allow UEFA to change their minds, as they did when the Billy Boys hit the headlines after we’d played in Villarreal (06), and accept a fine when the Custodian and his lackey should have fought tooth and nail to protect our club’s good name?
How well I remember Bain speaking out boldly after thugs in police uniforms set about the Rangers support savagely in Pamplona a year later, only for him to quickly wind his neck in just 24 hours later when, with all of European football’s high heid yins in Glasgow for the UEFA Cup draw, the liars with laptops and muppets with microphones hijacked the event and a 30-second clip on YouTube suddenly hit the headlines, with Spanish police brutality conveniently swept under the carpet. Once more Rangers were posted missing while our enemies were stirring the shit and our rap-sheet was steadily growing.
Sometime around this period a highly respected FFer sought a meeting with Bain to express his concern over the club’s inability to defend itself. He was informed that Rangers were resigned to having at least one stand closed by UEFA at some time in the future, a quite astonishing admission when you recall that the Billy Boys case was initially thrown out and the Pamplona incident only came to be highlighted because of disgraceful police actions AGAINST Rangers fans. But with nobody at Ibrox having the balls to stand up to these easily but sinisterly manipulated jokers, it has been open season on Rangers.
Inevitably, Manchester has reared its ugly head again. Yes, the ‘riot’ and ‘rampage’ of 18 months ago, when something like 200,000 Rangers fans poured into the city, leading to just FORTY-TWO arrests, none of which resulted in a conviction for anything other than a minor misdemeanour, is again being thrown in our faces. If our club had spoken out against the Hack Pack’s speculation, innuendo and blatant lies, not to mention the Keystone Cops masquerading as a legitimate police force, Rangers would be in front of UEFA next Thursday with a well-nigh impeccable record.
Hardly surprisingly, our soon-to-be ex-Chief Executive’s complaints about poor organisation in Romania were quickly overshadowed by his views on ‘a section’ of the Rangers support. That is the way it is with Martin Bain; he opens his mouth and lets his belly rumble, without the slightest thought of the spin with which his subsequent remarks might be reported. Just as a wee song became a more serious issue than baton-wielding policemen in Pamplona, a couple of drunks are the focus of more attention than systematic incompetence in Bucharest . Go for it, Martin, highlight the clowns who couldn’t care less and totally ignore the genuine ticket-holders who travelled all the way across Europe, paying through the nose for the privilege, only to find themselves being clattered by batons and sprayed with CS gas when they try to get into the match.
As newcomers to the European scene, Unirea Urziceni will probably get a wee slap on the wrists for this week’s chaos, no doubt diverting attention away from themselves by pointing out that the game was not played on their own ground. But Rangers, having been on UEFA’s radar for a number of years, can expect no mercy and Bain’s meek acceptance of the inevitability of closure of a stand, perhaps even the entire ground, will be his legacy and that of his asset-stripping paymaster.
Not a lot is going our way these days and, as the bank becomes the focus of much of our anger, I have detected a tendency among many fans to look on Martin Bain’s current position more sympathetically. Don’t go there, Bears! He has done much of Murray’s dirty work for most of the past decade and the mess we are in can be directly attributed to the self-same gruesome twosome. Remember that when you see the Gers playing a European tie in front of an empty stand, maybe even a completely empty ground (on TV of course), sometime in the future.
The big takeover cannot come soon enough. Until then, the Rangers F.C. is not in safe hands.