THE guard of honour which the Rangers players and coaching staff formed in front of the Union Bears following their Premier Sports Cup victory over St Johnstone at Hampden last month was a tad unfortunate for a couple of reasons.
For a start, it came just a couple of hours after the visitors’ supporter liaison officer had been assaulted as she made her way into the ground and had her drum forcibly removed from her by one of the host club’s less intelligent followers.
A raft of online posts as well as senior McDiarmid Park officials suggested the young hoodlum who was allegedly responsible – who was arrested and charged by police along with a couple of other undesirables – was a member of the ultras group.
For James Tavernier and his team mates to stand applauding them after full-time was not an especially good look irrespective of whether he was or not.
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Their actions also left them open to ridicule by fans of their rivals. Does beating St Johnstone at home constitute a mass celebration these days? Is that really how far you have fallen? Have you won the Champions League? Are you going to have an open topped bus parade now? The snipers had a field day.
Yet, the sentiment behind the gesture was sound. Rangers’ move to Mount Florida has been painful for their fans. Many have stayed away from matches altogether. Large sections of the ground, not least the traditional Celtic end, had lain empty during their meetings with Motherwell, Dynamo Kyiv and St Johnstone.
It was entirely understandable and actually rather fitting that the players, who have struggled somewhat with the temporary relocation themselves, wanted to show their gratitude for the important backing which they had received in challenging circumstances.
If only Scotland had a group of supporters who got behind their team in the same manner.
The Tartan Army were rightly lavished with praise for their conduct at Euro 2024 finals in Germany this summer. The national team may have fallen short on the park, but their fans rose to the occasion off it and then some. They travelled to the finals from across the globe in huge numbers and added colour and fun to the tournament.
That so many people could drink so much alcohol over such a prolonged period of time without a major diplomatic incident occurring was remarkable. Truly, they were a credit to their country.
Their renditions of Flower of Scotland before the Germany, Switzerland and Hungary games – and I say this as someone who abhors our unofficial national anthem with a passion and would dearly love to see it replaced – brought a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat.
Andy Robertson compared the goodwill which he and his team mates received in their opening game against the tournament hosts in the Allianz Arena to anything he had ever experienced before. “The support we got in Munich was among the best I’ve ever had in my career,” he said.
Coming from the Liverpool left back, an individual who plays at Anfield every other week and has been involved in three Champions League finals, that was high praise indeed.
During the course of the encounters with Switzerland in Cologne and Hungary in Stuttgart, however, the Scotland fans were outsupported. Yes, they raised the decibel levels when their boys were attacking the opposition goal. But when that was not the case? Not so much.
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It may not be a popular view. In fact, it might be positively sacrilegious to suggest it. But their counterparts were more vocal, more coordinated and more intense and gave their men a definite and important edge on the pitch during fiercely-contested encounters as a result.
I asked an associate of mine who was in Germany and attended both the Switzerland and Hungary matches if he thought this was an unfair observation or a valid criticism earlier this week. “I don’t know,” he said. “I was totally steamin’.”
But the younger members among them have to mobilise, form an ultras group, come up with a few more rousing chants than Flower of Scotland – a funereal dirge which does nothing to lift the energy levels and tempo on the field of play when a match is being played – and start behaving like 21st century supporters.
The crowd raised the roof when Scotland fought back in second half of their Nations League fixture against Poland at Hampden on Thursday night. But at other times it felt like a Polska home game. And the visitors’ fans were outnumbered by 20 to one at least.
Scotland supporters were not slow in letting Steve Clarke and his players what they thought of their early exit from Euro 2024. But they have their part to play in reviving their fortunes as well. They, too, must raise their games going forward.
