Rangers escape Uefa action

No sanctions in aftermath of crowd trouble

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 19th May 2008

Rangers police Manchester Uefa Cup

Mayhem in Manchester

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Uefa have confirmed that Rangers will face no punishment over the behaviour of their fans last week.

A number of the club's supporters went on the rampage in Manchester last Wednesday following the Uefa Cup final, with the police being caught up in the violence.

Uefa's general secretary David Taylor has admitted that Europe's governing body were shocked by the actions of a minority of Scottish supporters, but will leave the situation to be handled by the relevant authorities.

Distasteful

"It was really disgraceful and something on a scale we've not seen for some time," Taylor said.

"Whatever the issues around it, there are absolutely no excuses for the sort of disorder that occurred.

"Thankfully it seems the authorities got on top of it pretty quickly and have expressed themselves satisfied that, on the whole, the vast majority of supporters were well behaved.

"But it was, of course, a very distasteful incident."

Obligations

Taylor then went on to reveal that Rangers will face no sanctions over the incident.

"Our disciplinary rules relate to incidents in and around the stadium and Rangers, obviously, are giving their full co-operation to the authorities, banning any supporters found guilty of any incidents of disorder," he added.

"I think that's an obligation on the club."

Invasion

Taylor refused to place any of the blame for the trouble in the hands of the Manchester organisers, and insists that no-one could have predicted how many supporters would travel to the city.

"The numbers of people who actually came down from Scotland and all over the world to go to this match exceeded all expectations," he said.

"Yes, we were expecting some sort of invasion of Manchester, but the numbers, in the end, were just huge.

"It was very difficult for the authorities to cope. They did lay on special arrangements for fans but the numbers of people coming into the city was just incredible."