Well, I cant dodge round this issue any longer and something must be said (though it's likely to be rambling drivel as my head is in the bin at the moment due to tiredness).
The conduct of a certain number (the number doesn't really matter, however small it was) was totally unacceptable and unforgivable bringing fear to the streets of Manchester and shame upon everybody associated with or to the club all around the world. In that respect they are no better than the deviants. Obviously those identified and found guilty will be dealt with by the courts and a life ban from Ibrox.
Given the sheer weight of numbers of people crowding the streets of Manchester something like this was always going to be a distinct possibility though I believe the city authorities and Uefa never realised how big the support that Rangers were likely to bring with them. Still, once again, the violence was totally unjustified and unforgivable.
Maybe Uefa should reconsider the venue for their flagship club competitions. Is it not wiser to wait until they see who is in the final or even semi-finals before awarding a ground and city a final. The madness of Man U and Chelsea trekking all the way to Russia for the Champions League Final is an accident waiting to happen.
With respect to the city of Manchester they seemed to have done a very good job of accommodating the fans that did turn up.
With respect to the Police... hmmm.... I don't do Police haven't done since they willing allowed themselves to become the bitch thatcher's private army used to crush unrest within the general populace (Miner's Strike 1984). They lost the respect of the people 25 years ago and they'll never get it back. Today the Police are no more than a revenue collection service for the Government of the day and again it's a role they've accepted with little or no complaint. However, kicking a cop to the ground and then setting about him is totally unjustified and the scum involved will hopefully be locked up. The footage of the "Riot Police" doing a charge into a bemused 12-15 or so Rangers fans standing, staring in disbelief actually made me laugh out loud. You don't have to have brains to join the Police and fuck me it shows.
The media.... oh my fecking lord, where do I start. I've despaired at the rapid rate of descent of the media in the UK for a number of years now. I'm not going to go into it all now as I could rant for hours on the lies, misinformation and down right FUD they spread to the slack jawed public. This time they couldn't even get their story straight amongst each other in the same newsroom. Numerous examples of the same piece of CCTV footage showing "riots" being given a different and increasingly sensational spin as the following day went on. If you believe 10% of what you see on the TV news and 1% of what you read in the newspapers then you're a fecking idiot.
And now on to the football. The team did magnificently to get that far. They were beaten by a far better and more deserving team. Simple as that. I really didn't care that much when we lost (even before news of the trouble) as I've said before this was a sideshow, the SPL is the must win trophy this season.
What did disappoint me was the obvious lack of Plan B in Walter's mind. They scored in the 71st minute giving 20-25 minutes for Rangers to hit back. The team he put out at the start was never likely to score as the game wore on. After they scored he spent a full 5 minutes scribbling and staring at a bit of paper while a bemused Super Ally looked on. What was expecting to see on that bit of a paper? Was he hoping Brian Laudrup's name was going to magically appear on the subs list the more he scribbled and longer he stared? Piss poor Walter, piss poor. Novo should have been on the park before the ball had finished rolling into the back of then net, yet it took a full 5 minutes before he sent him on. And why the feck he never hooked Hemdani until the match was lost is something that can never be explained.
Anyway, to put it all into perspective it's only a game. The, tragically early, death of Tommy Burns only serves to show us what is important and what is just a game.
To finish on a lighter note, the News of the World have finally seen sense and punted that useless c*nt Gerry McNee. I read the news last Sunday in his column (it was like a scab you just couldn't stop picking ;-) and it brought happiness to my heart to see the back of the dribbling fool "Tonight Dougie, I can EXCLUSIVELY reveal, I'm a c*nt" Happy days, c'mon the Gers
"Lest we forget"
