Source: Team_Talk
Rangers move to ease fears of trouble
Rangers chief executive Martin Bain is confident there will be no repeat of 2008 when the club's supporters visit Manchester next month.[LNB] Rangers are returning to Manchester for the first time since the city was beseiged by trouble before, during and after the UEFA Cup final there in 2008.[LNB]Walter Smith's side were drawn alongside Manchester United in Thursday's Champions League group draw, with the Light Blues scheduled to visit Old Trafford on September 14.[LNB]There was no fan trouble when the Red Devils hosted Rangers at the same stage in 2003-04 and Bain is sure that will be the case again.[LNB]Bain said: "I would say the circumstances [in 2008] were totally different.[LNB]"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.[LNB]"Going down in those vast numbers was obviously a lot for any club and any city to deal with. It was a final.[LNB]"I still believe to this day it was a small minority who spoiled it for the majority, but this is a different tie.[LNB]"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.[LNB]"We have the right administration and the right security people to make sure that things go accordingly.[LNB]"We've played United in the Champions League before, and as far as I remember there was no great calamity."[LNB]Rangers Supporters Trust chairman Stephen Smith also moved quickly to quash any possible talk of a travelling ban on Light Blues fans.[LNB]He said: "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.[LNB]"Only a tiny, tiny amount, a tiny fraction, were involved in trouble.[LNB]"The fans who go this time will be legitimate Rangers fans who are members of the travel club."[LNB]Rangers Supporters Assembly president, Andy Kerr, also played down any fears about the trip to Manchester.[LNB]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.[LNB]"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.[LNB]"Clearly, the number of fans making the trip will be a fraction of the numbers that travelled for the UEFA Cup Final.[LNB]"The arrangements we have in place through the Rangers Travel Club will ensure that there is strong control over the fans that will travel."
