Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

European hangover

Thu May 15 08:58AM

In the end, Rangers' European campaign mirrored their fans' day in Manchester, as great passion and excitement gave way to disarray.

In fact there are several parallels:

It started early: July 31 for the team, while the supporters kicked off a mammoth drinking session by queueing en masse to get into Wetherspoon's at 9am.

They defended in numbers: Rangers had nine men behind the ball for much of their campaign, while they moved an occupying force of 100,000 into central Manchester.

There was alcohol involved: much of Manchester was dry by mid-afternoon - the Gers faithful possibly driven to drink watching a side that failed to score in nine of its last 13 European fixtures.

They initially won praise: Rangers' "plucky" play-for-penalties style earned them many fans who appreciated their passion and organisation. It was all fun and games throughout the day in Manchester as the fans got royally pished.

It all ended a bit messily: on the pitch, Rangers eventually capitulated after 70 minutes under the cosh. Outside the stadium, the Glaswegians were under an altogether more literal cosh as they clashed with police. Cue condemnation from the same media that were loving their antics earlier in the day.

They need to get themselves together: yesterday the shops had no booze - today there could be shortages of Alka Seltzer and plasters as the fans take their hangovers back up north and prepare to face the wife. Rangers have the small matter of a domestic treble to win.

It was not exactly the Watts Riots, but the scenes of violence were obviously unedifying (ED doesn't remember seeing anyone mooning at coppers in South Central LA).

If you're surrounded by a 100,000 inebriated Scottish football fans, few things are likely to provoke more disastrous consequences than the big TV breaking.

Although there is no serious suggestion of over-zealous policing, ED wonders if it really took three heavily-armed riot cops to take down the slightly confused-looking man in the photo above.

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Make your mind up. Passive-aggressive Chelsea manager Avram Grant just can't decide whether to be graceful over Manchester United's league title.

May 11: "I sent a message to Alex Ferguson congratulating him. He is a great manager and a great person. I congratulated him for a great season and for the title. I wished him all the best."

May 14: "In England there are some very good referees but some you can influence ...Paul Scholes should have been shown a red card and Wigan awarded a penalty."

Asked whether he was pleased there would be no English referee at the Champions League final, he replied; "I can say it like this - yes."

Trouble is, Grant's attempts at mind games are clumsier than a teenage clinch behind the bike sheds.

Why is he bothering to put pressure on English refs when the domestic season is over? What is he trying to achieve?

The main problem with Grant is that he does doesn't seem very managerial. He doesn't do or say anything that other managers do and just seems a bit awkward.

Forget the results - Jose Mourinho just 'felt' right, Grant does not. And that is why he will be out of a job in a few weeks.

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Early Doors is saddened to hear about the death of Tommy Burns from cancer. Burns is most famous as a former Celtic player and manager, and represented Scotland eight times. He was 51.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: Kevin McNaughton explains the sordid origins of his costume for Cardiff's FA Cup song: "The Danger Mouse suit was one I bought for our Christmas bash. Those parties can get pretty messy and I wanted something I could chuck away afterwards but I kept it just in case it came in handy." It's nice to have an outfit for every occasion...

NICKNAME OF THE DAY: "Sir Charles" - What Carlos Tevez is known as back in Argentina. Think of it as their equivalent to "El Tel".

FOREIGN VIEW: Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev said the team were woken up by a middle-of-the-night fire alarm Tuesday night. He said: "At 12 o'clock (midnight) the alarm went off, everyone ran out of their rooms, we thought we were on fire.But then they explained that it was three Glasgow fans who had set off the alarm on the third floor."

TALKING POINT: After copping all types of flak for criticising Rangers, today Early Doors is putting steven.rowan in the firing line: "Well, well, well!!... The wheels are finally coming off the Rangers glory wagon!! Can't say that I'm surprised - they've been riding their luck throughout every European game this season... So now for the domestic treble?.. I don't think so. Motherwell will rip them apart on Saturday, and surely Q.O.S. are worth a few bob at the bookies?.. As for the after-match trouble - Surprise, Surprise without Cilla Black!!"

Today - Were you at the game/in Manchester last night? Do share your experiences. We'd love to hear them.

COMING UP: England Under-21s are in action tonight against Wales in Wrexham. Should be good fun. As indeed should the League One playoff second leg between Dirty Leeds and Carlisle. Follow both matches in full on eurosport.yahoo.co.uk - they kick off at 7.45pm.

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