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28 07 2007 Glasgow Rangers 2 Chelsea 0
Get up 6am. Walk to station. Take a train, then tube, then DLR. Walk. Flight. Walk. Taxi. Stand for 3 hours in a pub
playing videos of Orangemen marching. Walk. Tube to Ibrox. Stand around watching tedious match. Walk. Taxi to
airport. 3 gin and tonics. Flight delayed 1 hour. Flight. Train. Rain. Taxi. It’s 11pm. £200 spent.
I approached this match with some trepidation. Knowing the link with Rangers is more to do with politics than any mutual
love for footballing style I didn’t take my Chelsea Poland flag with me.
We arrived at an Ibrox trying to get rid of its dark image. The irony is that many Chelsea fans arrived hoping to hear
those songs about the IRA, UVF etcetc when the reality is that these days fans singing non football related songs are
thrown out of the home end regularly. Speaking to the local fans (a very friendly and welcoming bunch) the atmosphere
at the stadium has been hit as most of the favourite songs are all to do with chasing Catholics down the road! And a
very good thing too. I find it tedious enough listening to Chelsea fans who should know better singing songs about
buying a flute when they had no sense or even singing about the “10 German bombers in the air”. Maybe I am turning
into Victor Meldrew but there is more to life than singing this bollocks. It’s good enough just to hate Tottenham!
I remember Rangers coming often down to Chelsea in the late 80s and early 90s in great numbers. It was great to see
that we had a good relationship with another British club. In the 60s, however, Chelsea were more twinned with Celtic,
but the IRA bombings in London put an end to that relationship.
You might think I am being harsh considering how many Rangers/Chelsea and Loyalist badges I have. The latter is
simply due to my hobby and is not what I believe in.
The match was a waste of time. The only one of the new players who impressed was Sidwell who looks like an apt
replacement for the ageing Maka. The biggest disappointment as per usual was SWP. I would not normally single out a
Chelsea player for criticism but when the father of someone who is on £50k+ per week has the temerity to poke his nose
into team affairs and his son puts in such a dismal display then you have to wonder what Ian Wright’s motives are. If
SWP is not getting a decent run in the Chelsea team it is for good reason – he is not good enough. Let him leave if he
doesn’t like it – which top club will buy him?
Losing to Rangers is not a disaster: hopefully the team will get a kick up the backside before the Community Shield this
Sunday. It was a great experience for the right and wrong reasons – I have not seen people selling BNP newspapers
outside a football ground since the late 80s, nor been in a pub where the main theme is to play Orange order marches
for the whole of the afternoon! But I was also thankful that the whole stadium was not singing Loyalist songs for the
whole 90 minutes - surely a step in the right direction.
playing videos of Orangemen marching. Walk. Tube to Ibrox. Stand around watching tedious match. Walk. Taxi to
airport. 3 gin and tonics. Flight delayed 1 hour. Flight. Train. Rain. Taxi. It’s 11pm. £200 spent.
I approached this match with some trepidation. Knowing the link with Rangers is more to do with politics than any mutual
love for footballing style I didn’t take my Chelsea Poland flag with me.
We arrived at an Ibrox trying to get rid of its dark image. The irony is that many Chelsea fans arrived hoping to hear
those songs about the IRA, UVF etcetc when the reality is that these days fans singing non football related songs are
thrown out of the home end regularly. Speaking to the local fans (a very friendly and welcoming bunch) the atmosphere
at the stadium has been hit as most of the favourite songs are all to do with chasing Catholics down the road! And a
very good thing too. I find it tedious enough listening to Chelsea fans who should know better singing songs about
buying a flute when they had no sense or even singing about the “10 German bombers in the air”. Maybe I am turning
into Victor Meldrew but there is more to life than singing this bollocks. It’s good enough just to hate Tottenham!
I remember Rangers coming often down to Chelsea in the late 80s and early 90s in great numbers. It was great to see
that we had a good relationship with another British club. In the 60s, however, Chelsea were more twinned with Celtic,
but the IRA bombings in London put an end to that relationship.
You might think I am being harsh considering how many Rangers/Chelsea and Loyalist badges I have. The latter is
simply due to my hobby and is not what I believe in.
The match was a waste of time. The only one of the new players who impressed was Sidwell who looks like an apt
replacement for the ageing Maka. The biggest disappointment as per usual was SWP. I would not normally single out a
Chelsea player for criticism but when the father of someone who is on £50k+ per week has the temerity to poke his nose
into team affairs and his son puts in such a dismal display then you have to wonder what Ian Wright’s motives are. If
SWP is not getting a decent run in the Chelsea team it is for good reason – he is not good enough. Let him leave if he
doesn’t like it – which top club will buy him?
Losing to Rangers is not a disaster: hopefully the team will get a kick up the backside before the Community Shield this
Sunday. It was a great experience for the right and wrong reasons – I have not seen people selling BNP newspapers
outside a football ground since the late 80s, nor been in a pub where the main theme is to play Orange order marches
for the whole of the afternoon! But I was also thankful that the whole stadium was not singing Loyalist songs for the
whole 90 minutes - surely a step in the right direction.
