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Rangers Are The Last Remaining British Team In The Uefa Cup.

Jockstar

By Jockstar
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Jockstar Star Member

Jockstar

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No old pals act from Zenit boss Advocaat

Zenit St Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat will brush aside his feelings for former club Rangers when the two sides meet in Wednesday night's UEFA Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Advocaat was manager at Ibrox between 1998 and 2001 and much of the hype surrounding this game has centred on the mostly positive relationship between the former Holland boss and the Govan club.

The Dutchman has been widely quoted as saying he is looking forward to meeting up with friends and former colleagues before the game, including the man who bankrolled his period in Glasgow, Rangers owner, Sir David Murray.

However, the Zenit boss will focus on bringing the Russian club's first European trophy back to St Petersburg.

He said: 'It is important that I don't become emotional. This is a football match and hopefully I will feel positive afterwards.

'The build-up has been about Zenit being the favourites but Rangers should be shown respect for what they have done this season.

'Rangers have reached the UEFA Cup final and the Scottish Cup final, they have won the League Cup and will hopefully win the SPL.

'They deserve the full respect of everyone in Scotland.

'We know a lot about each other's teams and I don't think Rangers will change their style of play and neither will I.

'So we expect a good game but I hope that Zenit are the winners.'

Advocaat, who won Scottish Football Writers' manager of the year award in his first season after winning a treble in Scotland, joked about the abilities of Rangers' Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar who won the player of the year award last Sunday.

He said: 'Carlos is a good player and that is the reason he won the player of the year award in Scotland.

'I know how difficult it is to do these things if you are a foreigner in Scotland. It means a lot.'

Zenit had two Russian Premier League games postponed in order to prepare for the game while Rangers are embroiled in a fixture pile-up, their last game being against Dundee United at Ibrox on Saturday.

But Advocaat was reluctant to claim that his side have the advantage.

He said: 'If we lose then the people will say it was a bad idea (to postpone the games).

'If we win, then they will say it's a good idea. It is all about results. So we will see.'

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Jockstar Star Member

Jockstar

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Zenit and Rangers bid for UEFA Cup glory

MANCHESTER, England, May 14 (Reuters) - The UEFA Cup will have a new name etched on to it after Zenit St Petersburg meet Rangers in the final at the City of Manchester stadium on Wednesday.

Following back-to-back wins by Sevilla, Russian champions Zenit are in their first European final while Rangers are in their first since 1972 when they lifted the Cup Winners' Cup.

Zenit's victims en route to the final include Olympique Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen but it was their semi-final victory with its a 4-0 home leg win over Bayern Munich, that highlighted the attacking threat of Dick Advovcaat's side.

Their goalscoring prowess is likely to be diminished by the absence from the final of suspended striker Pavel Pogrebynak, joint top scorer in the competition.

The final pits Advocaat against Walter Smith, the man he succeeded when Smith ended his first spell at Ibrox in 1998. Advocaat guided Rangers to two league titles before moving on to take charge of the Dutch national side.

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Jockstar Star Member

Jockstar

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Smith stays calm ahead of UEFA Cup final

Rangers play one of the biggest games in the club's history when they face Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday night - but manager Walter Smith insists he is taking the whole occasion in his stride.

The veteran boss, 60, has guided his team from the qualifying rounds of the Champions League to the group stages of the tournament, and then through the latter rounds of the UEFA Cup to finally reach the last two of the competition.

Dick Advocaat's side are now all that stand between Rangers and their first European trophy in 36 years, but Smith insists he and his players will savour every moment of the clash at the City of Manchester Stadium.

'I don't know if the UEFA Cup final is any more stressful than any other game that we've played,' he said.

'I don't think it's any more stressful than the qualifying games we had for the Champions League.

'I'm actually quite relaxed about getting to this stage of the UEFA Cup. We're looking forward to the game and that's the way it should be.

'I don't notice any signs of strain. They've had a few days off now and they'll be ready to go.'

Around 100,000 Rangers fans are expected to descend upon Manchester in anticipation of claiming another trophy in their quest for the quadruple.

Smith added: 'It's sunk in that we're here. It's getting to the stage where we want the game to start.

'It's a big thing for any team to win the UEFA Cup and when you look back at the teams which have won it recently, an excellent level of team has won it so that would be a big thing in its own right.

'It's not a thing that happens to Scottish clubs very often. It would certainly put us in the history books although we've already done that by getting to the final.

'But once you get there you want to do your utmost to win it.

'The players have never given any indication that they will let the opportunity pass them by. They've taken confidence from the European games. That doesn't mean that everything will be just hunky dory in the final.

'We have a lot of problems to overcome because Zenit look as though they are a very good side. They pass the ball well and have good forward players. That's part and parcel of what they do.

'But our players have handled themselves well in a lot of difficult circumstances in Europe this season and I think they've taken confidence from that.'

Rangers' only other continental triumph was back in 1972 when they defeated another Russian side, Dinamo Moscow, to clinch the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Smith said: 'I don't think a manager has to tell the team about the historic significance. The team has worked very hard. It's taken 18 games to get to the final.

'Really, if they don't grasp it I've been wasting my time in the previous rounds.

'I don't think there's a great deal I need to say. They just need to play the game and the boys themselves will handle that.'

Smith expects his captain, Barry Ferguson, to be instrumental once again but insists this is a night where every single player must rise to the challenge.

'Barry has driven us on and for a player to play the number of games he has this season, at the level he has been playing at, has been fantastic,' said Smith.

'Along with the rest of the boys in the team he's worked extremely hard to get here. It's the final, it's the big stage and they all want to show their ability.

'It won't be down to one player and it will be the same for Zenit as well.

'It will be down to how the players themselves handle the game.'

Meanwhile, Smith has no fears about any of his players suffering racist abuse at the hands of the Zenit fans.

He added: 'I look purely at the footballing side of it - the other parts that we read about about the Zenit supporters is a problem we have at our own club with the sectarian issue.

'We are trying to adjust that as well, I'm sure Zenit are trying to adjust to theirs, but I don't see it being a problem to any of our players.

'It's something that if it occurs they'll be mature enough to handle it.'

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mrbojangles Star Member

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I cant wait. Looking forward to this. Hope your ground proves lucky MrBo.

I've just got back from Wing Yip (1/2 mile from City's ground) getting the wifes Rice stash loaded up and again. And boy is it starting to get busy round there. There are Jockanese all over the place but they all look in good spirits and no trouble to report. :o

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mrbojangles Star Member

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Good luck tonight JS.

I hope our place proves a worthy place for the final.

Your placemight need a re-fit after tonight MrBJ :D

We'll get the council to pay for it, as the Reds keep on saying "we're only council tenants" :o

Looks like you was right Chavy. Although our ground looks ok, the city centre needs abit of a dusting, to say the least :D

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EastSaxCol Silver Member

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With respect to Jockstar, all the reasons that I dislike Rangers is summed up in this incident.

A bloke and his brother born in Scotland but brought up in Manchester go drinking with some Rangers fans. The brothers are wearing Scotland shirts. After they thought that they had made pals with the Rangers fans they were drinking with they let out that they were Man u supporters. In some sort of argument that ensued one brother says that Ferguson is a Protestant. Result, he gets a bottle over his head and has to have thirteen stitches. The other brother runs away fearing that he'd get severely beaten-up if he doesn't. Followed in the distance by chants of "Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea...." This bloke reckoned that all day he heard what he described as "bigot songs", for instance, 'Fenian Blood'.

This sort of behaviour wasn't an isolated one, but was replicated by Rangers fans before the match and after where several were arrested and one Russian fan stabbed.

It's all too familiar after Spain last year.

I'm afraid that this sort of bigotry and violence leaves me with no respect whatsoever for Rangers, or even any compliment that on the pitch they had done well, punching above their weight.

A Euro ban seems like the only way to deal with a teams supporters now labelled as being the pariahs of Europe.

HH

Edited by Happy Hammer
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Jockstar Star Member

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Also they reckon there was 200,000 fans there. Thats a lot of people. With that amount, thne you will always get trouble. This from socernet

'The police and council praised the behaviour of the overwhelming majority of Rangers fans and estimates suggest there could have been around 200,000 in the city yesterday.

'There was a tremendous atmosphere all around the city and the vast majority deserved credit for the way they behaved.

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Jockstar Star Member

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This also from soccernet.

Privately it is known that city officials wanted 'anyone but Rangers' to get through to the final.

Publicly the council promised a warm welcome, with a relaxed attitude to fans drinking on the street - normally outlawed - and three fan zones with big screens.

Beer was on tap from off-licences with supporters carrying crates of cheap lager around - Tesco opened at 7am, 18 hours before kick-off.

Excitement mounted all day, as did the alcohol levels, with some fans spending hundreds of pounds on travel and hotels just to watch the game in the fan zones.

Throughout the day the atmosphere had been friendly but when a 'technical hitch' hit the screen in Piccadilly Gardens, many fans, already heavily drunk, turned nasty.

Violence broke out at around 7.30pm and the trouble continued for around five hours.

The broken big screen was pelted with bottles, as were riot police as they moved in to try to quell the trouble.

Police and council officials blamed a 'minority' of fans for the violence.

Rangers fans blamed the local council's 'shambolic' organisation, but another said the behaviour of his fellow supporters left him 'ashamed to be a Scotsman'

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Jockstar Star Member

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Can someone enlighten me on something please.

Yesterday, the Rangers fans were all wearing Union flags and hats etc. I expected the Scots to wear the Scotish flag. What is the history or reasoning behind this?

Ranger colours are red white and blue and it also going back to the northen ireland conflict, with the proddies sticking with the union and the catholics sticking with the republic thats why celtic fans have tricolours

From Google.

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EastSaxCol Silver Member

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Can someone enlighten me on something please.

Yesterday, the Rangers fans were all wearing Union flags and hats etc. I expected the Scots to wear the Scotish flag. What is the history or reasoning behind this?

Sectarian bogotry. I noticed one fan wearing a shirt designed in Red Hand of Ireland flag -- a loyalist symbol. Ironic if we consider that it was originally the symbol of Celtic sun god Labraid Lámh Dhearg.

Unfortunately however both Clubs, Celtic and Rangers, have tried to move away from the historic sectarianism that underlies both Clubs. It seems to have failed with the bigotted minority.

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EastSaxCol Silver Member

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bigotted minority.

Thats the problem. BTW its not just Rangers and Celtic.

Where eles does it find such violent expression then ?

Btw, I also like Celtic, Not because of any religious reasons. But only since they played in Bobby Moore's testimonial , oh way back. And that there used to be a strong West Ham/Celtic tradition.

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Prakanong Platinum Member

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Now I used to go to Ibrox a lot when I lived in Scotland and have had a drink with the Chairmans son in Edinburgh and quite a few occasions in Bangkok too. I will admit i have sang the songs too as well as being in Orange Clubs before and after the game as well as a notorious Partick pub owned by Walter etc where Rangers players used to join in the singing

But

Ranger do have a bit of a history of this and sorry to say it was bound to happen when they lost

Newcastle in 68

Barcelona 72

Sunderland 94

Manchester 08

and a lot of others

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