Rangers were never especially
popular in Scotland.
As the ‘establishment’ team, supporters of other teams rather disliked Rangers
and it inspired the famous slogan “no one likes us, we don’t care”.
It is something Rangers
supporters have been used to for as long as we can remember. However, post-2012
and the admin nightmare, it is safe to say that dislike has morphed into hate,
then into poisonous loathing, before ending up at sincere desire to see
violence upon anyone in Light Blue.
The Scott Allan saga has
deliciously highlighted the level of venom aimed at Ibrox these days, who must
easily be the most hated domestic team in European football. Sure, Manchester
United were never the toast of England either, but it would be a genuine
struggle to find a consistent level of hatred down south which emulates that at
Rangers, and that which the Scott Allan soap opera is exposing on an
unprecedented level.
Going back a little in time and
one look online sees constant hate-filled messages aimed at ‘h*ns’ or ‘sevco’,
genuine spite-filled rants from intellectually-deprived individuals with more
teeth than brain cells; obsessive bloggers who are supposed to support some
other team but spend their entire lives obsessing with proving that Rangers are
a ‘new team’ despite the evidence proving otherwise.
And that supporter at Fir Park,
who ‘was only trying to banter the ball away from Lee McCulloch’ said most
non-Rangers fans. Ignoring the fact he went back for a second bite and whacked
the-then captain on the backside for good measure. All just ‘craic’ fellas,
just a bit of fun.
And now we have Scott Allan. A
23-year old kid who just wants to play for the team he loves, and who is now
subject to verbal poison the likes of which anyone associated with Rangers is
sadly familiar with. He put his cards on the table, publicly admitted he is a
Rangers lad, and now he is a pariah in Scotland, loathed and demonised by
anyone who does not support Rangers for the pure and simple fact that he does.
As we saw, the death wishes and
threats he received, including the spewing of venom towards his family and
desire to see them all suffer various lethal diseases (he has a baby boy for
crying out loud) he is now public enemy number one.
Ian Murray last night nailed it
spot on, and was one of the first respected names in Scottish football to
provide a sensible view:
“When I was a little boy, I was a Hibs
fan and I wanted to play for Hibs,” said the St Mirren manager. It
wouldn’t have mattered who wanted to sign me. If Barcelona were competing with Hibs, I would
have signed for Hibs. No question. Scott has grown up supporting Rangers and
now has the chance to sign for them. This chance might never come round
again.”
The voice of reason – but thanks
to Hibernian ‘making a circus’ of this whole saga, and pettily refusing to sell
to Rangers (but happily snapping up Queen of the South’s Danny Carmichael, even
out of contract) because they are Rangers, it has only isolated Allan further.
His employer has effectively told
him he can go anywhere, just not the place he wants to.
A pretty nasty stance really –
and spare me the ‘rival Championship team’ tot:
Turan – Atletico to Barca. Sterling – Liverpool to Man City.
Cech – Chelsea to Arsenal. Lewandowski – Dortmund
to Bayern. History is littered with players going to rival title-challenging
teams.
What absolute nonsense. Stubbs,
Dempster and Petrie have simply taken Rangers’ interest in their star man
personally because they hate the Govan side, and would sooner sell him into
slavery than the Marble Staircase.
And sadly this hatred is
national. It is alien outwith Scotland;
outside these claustrophobic walls Rangers are actually a very popular team.
But inside Scotland Rangers are
beaten daily, and the Scott Allan saga has only highlighted how much.