Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2021 19:37:40 GMT
The Guardian: Title beckons for Rangers after beating St Mirren as fans descend on Ibrox
Steven Gerrard says he fully understands the excitement levels which drove Rangers fans to break corona virus lock down rules and launch a pre-emptive title party on Ibrox’s doorstep.
Thousands of supporters carrying flags and smoke bombs breached the Scottish government’s stay-at-home rules to welcome Gerrard and his team into the stadium for their clash with St Mirren.
A 3-0 win over the Paisley side leaves Rangers on the verge of being crowned champions for the first time in a decade. But the scenes before kick-off drew swift condemnation from Holyrood, with a spokesperson saying the government was “extremely disappointed” with the actions of the Light Blues faithful at a time when the nation is still battling to get the Covid-19 pandemic under control.
Gerrard, though, had sympathy for the outpouring of emotion from a support that have stood by their team while it mounted a long recovery from the club’s 2012 financial collapse.
He said: “I’ve got to get my words right here – we are still experiencing and are involved in a pandemic. It’s important fans try to stay humble and safe. That’s the priority, people’s safety, I totally understand that. But at the same time, if you’ve got anything inside you or any part of your heart can understand what the fans have been through, you can totally understand what’s gone on outside this stadium. It’s my job to try and control that. Safety is paramount at the moment but it’s tough because it has been an emotional three years for me. The fans have been here for much longer than that and have been through a lot in 10 years. So you can certainly understand it.”
Gerrard’s squad could get their hands on the trophy as early as Sunday if Celtic slip up at Tannadice. If not, the Ibrox support can still look forward to the dream scenario of finally putting an end to their bitter rival’s reign of dominance at Parkhead when they head to Celtic on 21 March.
The jubilant scenes before the game were matched at full time as the Rangers players raced to the corner of the ground at the Copland Road end, where a small group of fans had stayed on to cheer them through the match.
Gerrard hailed his players for keeping calm while those around the ground were in party mode, with goals in the first half from Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos then from Ianis Hagi a minute after the break sealing the win.
The Rangers manager, who plans to watch Celtic’s noon kick-off with his players at the training ground, said: “It’s been a long journey over the three years. There have been some lows in there. But I just walked into a really happy dressing room, as you can imagine, because we are so close now.”
Jim Goodwin’s Saints were also made to battle their way through the crowds to get into Ibrox. “We’re not going to beat ourselves up about today’s game, if you’d offered me one game to go pre-split to get into the top six with all we’ve had to deal with Covid, we’d have bitten your hand off,” Goodwin said. “We have one massive game to come in a couple of weeks. The players are really excited and we’ll be raring to go.”
Thousands of supporters carrying flags and smoke bombs breached the Scottish government’s stay-at-home rules to welcome Gerrard and his team into the stadium for their clash with St Mirren.
A 3-0 win over the Paisley side leaves Rangers on the verge of being crowned champions for the first time in a decade. But the scenes before kick-off drew swift condemnation from Holyrood, with a spokesperson saying the government was “extremely disappointed” with the actions of the Light Blues faithful at a time when the nation is still battling to get the Covid-19 pandemic under control.
Gerrard, though, had sympathy for the outpouring of emotion from a support that have stood by their team while it mounted a long recovery from the club’s 2012 financial collapse.
He said: “I’ve got to get my words right here – we are still experiencing and are involved in a pandemic. It’s important fans try to stay humble and safe. That’s the priority, people’s safety, I totally understand that. But at the same time, if you’ve got anything inside you or any part of your heart can understand what the fans have been through, you can totally understand what’s gone on outside this stadium. It’s my job to try and control that. Safety is paramount at the moment but it’s tough because it has been an emotional three years for me. The fans have been here for much longer than that and have been through a lot in 10 years. So you can certainly understand it.”
Gerrard’s squad could get their hands on the trophy as early as Sunday if Celtic slip up at Tannadice. If not, the Ibrox support can still look forward to the dream scenario of finally putting an end to their bitter rival’s reign of dominance at Parkhead when they head to Celtic on 21 March.
The jubilant scenes before the game were matched at full time as the Rangers players raced to the corner of the ground at the Copland Road end, where a small group of fans had stayed on to cheer them through the match.
Gerrard hailed his players for keeping calm while those around the ground were in party mode, with goals in the first half from Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos then from Ianis Hagi a minute after the break sealing the win.
The Rangers manager, who plans to watch Celtic’s noon kick-off with his players at the training ground, said: “It’s been a long journey over the three years. There have been some lows in there. But I just walked into a really happy dressing room, as you can imagine, because we are so close now.”
Jim Goodwin’s Saints were also made to battle their way through the crowds to get into Ibrox. “We’re not going to beat ourselves up about today’s game, if you’d offered me one game to go pre-split to get into the top six with all we’ve had to deal with Covid, we’d have bitten your hand off,” Goodwin said. “We have one massive game to come in a couple of weeks. The players are really excited and we’ll be raring to go.”