Rioting Before And After UEFA Cup Final

So my team, Glasgow Rangers, were defeated in last nights UEFA Cup Final by Russian outfit Zenit. Now if that wasn’t bad enough it emerged that fans had been involved in running battles with police BEFORE the match had even started.

To be honest I’m not surprised this happened. Rangers fans are no angels, Glasgow is a tough city and violence is commonplace. Add to the mix it had been widely reported that many football hooligans from English teams were intending to descend on Manchester dressed in Rangers strips with the sole intention of causing trouble. Surely police and security chiefs were aware of this considering how widespread these stories had been prior to the game.

So what kicked it all off? Well unlike most of the inaccurate reporting online this DIDN’T start because of the teams defeat.

Tens of thousands of ticketless fans were left disappointed after waiting for hours in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens - one of the fan zones set up with a huge screen that was beaming in the game - when a message flashed up on the screens less than five minutes before kick-off advising the crowd that there was a glitch and there would be no live feed on the screen.

Hundreds of officers swarmed into the Gardens to try to control the situation as the crowd tried to leave the area. Officers in riot gear drew their batons. Mounted police and dog handlers flooded the area. Fans claimed police jostled them. Some were hit with batons and bottles flew. Riot police charged and bottles and traffic cones were thrown in response.

Small pockets of fans remained in Piccadilly in the hope that the big screen would start working but it remained blank. Police moved in waves, ushering fans out of the square but there were angry flashpoints. At 8.30pm, there was mayhem at the fringes of Piccadilly Gardens. Police came under a hail of bottles from furious fans they were escorting away.

As a police helicopter circled overhead, lines of officers in riot gear charged at fans as they tried to contain the situation. One fan was seen being whacked by police in a shop doorway. The man’s friends rushed to help him and fighting broke out. At least one man was seen being carried from the square with unknown injuries.

Fans in the other city centre fan zones - at Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens - were oblivious to what was happening until thousands of supporters surged in. But tens of thousands missed at least the entire first half of the game.

After the game trouble seemed to escalate. A Russian fan was stabbed outside the stadium but his injuries were not serious. Six men - believed to be Rangers fans - were arrested over the incident.

This is an embarrassment.

Pre match violence

After match rioting.