Champions League - Rangers backed by top cop

PA Sport - Fri, 06 Nov 10:33:00 2009

Rangers' explanation for the crowd disturbances in the Champions League match against Unirea Urziceni has been backed by a top Glasgow policeman who attended the game.

2009-10 Scottish Premier League Rangers fans - 0

The club have vowed to argue a strong case after being charged with the improper conduct of their supporters during Wednesday's 1-1 Group G draw in Bucharest. Television pictures showed a number of Rangers fans clashing with Romanian police in the stands at half-time, while one supporter was seen to rip out a seat.

But Superintendent Mike Dean of Strathclyde Police, who was helping to co-ordinate security at the Steaua Stadium told the Daily Record: "The situation arose because, despite having an agreement in place with UEFA that four turnstiles would be in operation, there were in fact only two."

He added: "I was there with the UEFA delegate from right up until about 20 minutes before kick-off time, when there was a late surge with 400 or 500 supporters trying to get in through two gates.

"At that stage, the public order riot police went in and sprayed the fans. This caused a lot of tension and the whole thing deteriorated. Fans were still trying to get into the ground at half-time.

"What happened inside the stadium at half-time was probably a direct result of the tensions outside. I was not happy."

The matter will be dealt with by UEFA's control and disciplinary body on Thursday.

Dean, who has already spoken to UEFA to give them his on-the-spot version, added: "Eventually, we went to the control room and spoke to the match commander. He got very excited and started shouting when all I was attempting to do was give him my advice, with 10 years' experience of these kind of things.

"He then decided he needed the stewards to remove some of the Rangers flags, to clear seats for the fans who were still coming in.

"I told him the fans will do that themselves. But he chose not to take my advice. It was at that point a steward went in to remove some flags and was challenged by the supporters. I can't condone those fans who came rushing down from the back and would warn them the CCTV pictures are of tremendous quality."

PA Sport

Comment 5 - 24 of 24

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  1. I'd rather be a rabble rousing hun than an IRA­ loving scumbag.
    Last Sunday you lost worldwide, the­ title of being the best fans in the world after that­ @#$% during the few minutes silence for the war dead.

    From William, on Wed 11 Nov 5:50PM

  2. Another example of the Huns causing trouble... Where­ next you scum?

    From Delberto Gooner, on Wed 11 Nov 3:42PM

  3. oh there goes gerry 130 mcnee on a rant again tell me­ gerry do have a wee look at a dictionary before you­ come on this site ????

    From the azzurri, on Mon 9 Nov 10:10PM

  4. LOL,excellent comment.

    From mcdade1953, on Sat 7 Nov 7:54AM

  5. Ohhhhhh c`mon now Mr Dean,you should have used the bog­ standard " It was people in, Celtic ,Hibs,Aberdeen­ strips,Romanian fans for singing anti Rangers­ songs,Chelsea or Man City casuals, incompetent­ Mancunian organisation,the Barcelona Police,Villareal­ coach operators.... anything at all except "you­ know who"" the Scottish media would have­ then done the usual indepth, factual reporting they are­ famed for and declared all you said to be true.

    From Bianco C, on Sat 7 Nov 7:49AM

  6. lysd great shout my fellow human..its beyond a joke !­ scotlands shame..

    From zzgus f, on Sat 7 Nov 1:24AM

  7. #18 have you ever thought that it might just be that at­ least 6 people on here know that you are a bigot, talk­ a lot of absolute pish, and go out of your way to­ offend people who don't agree with you,­ 'herd' and 'collective IQ of a­ geranium' are phrases that will not exactly endear­ you to anybody, will they? However, true to your breed,­ you think that you are above any form of criticism, and­ blame everything and everybody except yourself. Give­ yourself a right good talking to and try to make some­ valid contribution which doesn't involve your own­ particular brand of bile and you never know you may­ just see a thumbs up apart from your own.

    From lysdexic, on Fri 6 Nov 10:51PM

  8. Censorship, my friends, is here and now being used by a­ cabal of celtic supporters on this site. My evidence?,­ go to point 15 below and ask yourself why has this been­ voted down. The answer is that a bunch of celtic­ supporters who have an unhealthy proprietorial view of­ this site, act, in concert, to vote down anyone that­ they regard as a threat or anyone that they disagree­ with.
    Some of you will say that this is fair enough,­ others, hopefully, will regard this as totally­ unacceptable and apart from an infringement of normal­ decency, it could lead to another group simply voting­ down the opposition. Nobody will gain from this­ situation. Let's not start a vendetta from which­ nobody benefits.

    From Ranger130, on Fri 6 Nov 10:24PM

  9. there is a under current behind the rise of rangers­ spats accross europe - maybe because of the vile flags­ and songs they sing, which is not acceptable across a­ CATHOLIC europe - thats maybe why they get a hard time­ - time to leave their vile at home when on tour - as­ every team needs to!!!
    Scotland have the best set of­ fans globally - this causing a riot lark, its past its­ sell by date in the 80's - copying the engurlish­ trend is not acceptable!!!

    From green2thebone, on Fri 6 Nov 8:44PM

  10. Romanian police have stated on news that it WAS NOT CS­ GAS sprayed on the manky mob, but deodorant!!!!!

    From abamassage1, on Fri 6 Nov 8:37PM

  11. Hopefully UEFA wont be taken in by this charade , its­ about time they took a hard line on persistent­ offenders. Remember Manchester, hardly the first time.

    From alanrey25j, on Fri 6 Nov 7:00PM

  12. pt5 what a crock off @#$% the rangers fans deserve all­ they get they caused trouble last night they caused­ trouble in manchester what is the excuse for trying to­ kill a police officer for what did that one policeman­ hem all the fans in so they had to attack get real you­ looser

    From paul, on Fri 6 Nov 5:56PM

  13. PISH minger PISH

    From css, on Fri 6 Nov 3:06PM

  14. Inver - it's a well-documented fact that rangers­ fans suffer from TECHNOPHOBIA. Any kind of technology,­ be it mechanical / electro-mechanical / electrical /­ electronic can cause violent reactions with them when­ said technology is not working, for whatever reason.­ This technophobia was only researched properly after­ many bluenoses had a bad reaction induced by a huge­ number of celtic fans making an innocuous request for­ then to be so kind as to record ONE EPISODE of THE BILL­ on ITV, whilst they went off to Sevill for some­ sunshine, sangria, senoritas, and I think there was­ also a football match being played on the same day, but­ for the life of me, I cannot remember who the two teams­ were!! LOL!!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Fri 6 Nov 1:45PM

  15. 5 - So, what's your agenda? Still waiting for the­ Chief Constable to process your application to join­ them, are you?

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Fri 6 Nov 1:38PM

  16. i waz at this game shoking behavouir of the moronick­ few ma husband waz asulted by the unirea fans we wher­ in hospital for hours by the time we got let out of the­ stadium it turns out we went to the wrong game and­ hubby wanted a punch up anyways he got well done in and­ still keeps saying he could have took them what a laugh­ i advize all married couples to attend one roll on the­ next one you crazey fans

    From mclovin, on Fri 6 Nov 1:10PM

  17. Unirea Urziceni should be banned from the competition­ for 5 years and fined £250,000 as they lied to the uefa­ and the police

    From Paul T, on Fri 6 Nov 12:50PM

  18. basically what this policeman and bain are saying is­ you can riot if two turnstiles instead of four are­ open, even though the riot was inside the ground, and­ you can riot if stewards remove flags from seats to­ give paying fans a seat, instead they should have asked­ the fans to remove them, which one do you ask? what if­ he says no? what utter nonsense, rangers should just­ accept this and stop making it worse by trying to­ justify it.

    From inverkenny, on Fri 6 Nov 12:24PM

  19. "Dean's the mason in the black!"

    From StelioS, on Fri 6 Nov 11:06AM

  20. I hate rangers and coppers but I think this guy­ wouldn't be saying this if i wasn't true.

    It­ was the same in manchester the coppers hemmed the­ rangers fans into inclosures where they were being­ crushed and when the fans complained to the cops that­ people were being crushed the cops attacked them.

    As­ i say I'm no rangers fan but the way those fans are­ being treated by those scum is out of order. Then they­ get idiots like the above who side with the violent­ coppers rather than fellow football fans. *shakes­ head*

    Even when this one cop who's speaking sense­ tells you what actually happened you still­ discriminate?

    A Celtic fan.

    From nathan, on Fri 6 Nov 11:02AM
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