Rangers move quickly to allay fears over Man Utd clash

Rangers and their supporters have come together to ease any fears as the Ibrox club's return to Manchester for the first time since trouble marred the 2008 UEFA Cup final in the city.

Walter Smith's side were drawn together in Group C with Manchester United, Spanish side Valencia and Turkey's Bursaspor, with the Light Blues scheduled to visit Old Trafford on September 14.

However, a tiny minority of the 150,000-plus Gers fans who travelled to Manchester two years ago for the UEFA Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg, which the Govan side lost 2-0, infamously clashed with police during and after the game.

However, Rangers chief executive Martin Bain insisted that there would be no repeat of the scenes of misbehaviour.

Bain said: "I would say the circumstances [in 2008] were totally different.
"When we went to Manchester for the UEFA Cup final it was one of the biggest movements of people in Europe, 150,000 people descending on the city.

"Going down in those vast numbers was obviously a lot for any club and any city to deal with. It was a final.

"I still believe to this day it was a small minority who spoiled it for the majority, but this is a different tie.

"The true Rangers supporters did not like those scenes and I am absolutely convinced that they will go down to Manchester to prove a point that they are a great set of supporters.

"We have the right administration and the right security people to make sure that things go accordingly.

"We've played United in the Champions League before, and as far as I remember there was no great calamity."

Rangers Supporters Trust chairman Stephen Smith moved quickly to quash any possible talk of a travelling ban on Light Blues fans, telling Press Association Sport: "People will make a lot of the fact that we are going back to Manchester but I don't see any reason at all why Rangers fans shouldn't be allowed to go because of the over-hyped bother in 2008.

"Only a tiny, tiny amount, a tiny fraction, were involved in trouble.

"The fans who go this time will be legitimate Rangers fans who are members of the travel club."

Rangers Supporters Assembly president, Andy Kerr, also played down any fears about the trip to Manchester.

Kerr said: "No doubt the prospect of Rangers fans visiting Manchester again so soon after the 2008 UEFA Cup final will attract reaction in the media.

"However, we played a Champions League tie at Old Trafford in 2003 and the event passed off without incident and it is a tie we all look forward to.

"Clearly, the number of fans making the trip will be a fraction of the numbers that travelled for the UEFA Cup Final.

"The arrangements we have in place through the Rangers Travel Club will ensure that there is strong control over the fans that will travel."

 
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