Once the dust settles on this I think we'll take it for what it was which was an unbelievable day and one we'll probably never see again.
I remember sitting outside work at lunchtime on the crescent , A580 or East Lancs rd as its known leading into manchester about half a mile away from the City center , just sat in awe with a few of my m8's watching the traffic which was at a standstill full of Rangers fans.
We've seen big sporting events b4 but nothing compared to the scale of this, there were mini buses, limousines of every colour and size , vans and just about any type of vehicle crammed with Fans, all in good voice and singing their songs, My arm was aching after a while just letting on and waving to the ones who acknowledged us which was the majority as everybody was in good spirits.
I recalled in the match thread about a student crossing the rd in a Celtic top and plonking his arse at a bus stop, he must have been out of his trolley wearing it on a day like that as he became a sitting target for abuse and by fcuk he got it, nothing malicious mind but not a car drove past without not noticing him and we were howling laffing at it.
There were a few fans who got off as Salford Train station (pity thr fan zones werent in Salford as we could have done with the imporovements) and made there way to the City Centre on foot , a pretty constant stream of them but nothing compared to the vehicles rolling in, most of the foot soldiers were half cut but in good voice and we wished them luck on their way, it was like a jolly boys outing with everybody looking to enjoy themselves.
It didnt take a rocket scientist to see that the City centre was not going to hold all these people and it was only the week b4 I was saying to my work colleagues they should put up the big screens and
party in Heaton park as they did when the pope arrived which easily held a million people, most people in Manchester knew Rangers were going to come down in force if not just to beat the 80,000 Celtic fans who went to Seville.
Seems the Manchester councillors knew better and thought they could control them in the City Centre which was never going to happen.
For those that don't know Manchester City centre is a working Centre mainly full of office workers and sidestreets , there are a few shops knocking about but mainly are now 2nd rate stores like Primark, sports and tacshops, the council should have been looking at a minimum of 80,000 fans and theres no way the Centre could cater for that many + locals who were also planning to join in the fun.
Maybe its easy to say in hindsight but everybody had a rough idea of the numbers to expect hence the council bottling out at first by trying to ban fans without tickets then realising its a free country.
I don't know what planet most of the City councillors come from but they must shoulder a lot of blame for what happened for allowing it to happen in the City Centre in the first place.
In fact the first news of the day was of Tesco's on Market street selling discounted ale outside of there shop and a councillor goimg in threattning to revoke their license if they didnt remove it, did he think that would stop fans walking into the shop and buying it anyhow, it just shows the mentality of these people who do not live in the inner citys but castles in the sky.
Put 150,000 football fans (and there was that many at least) together from any club in the world and ure gonna see one hell of a piss up, there not going to boost the local economy by buying cardigans and shoes.
Your gonna
party like its 1999 and make this a day to remember as these days don't come around that often in a lifetime and it was a beautiful summers day to boot.
Now all you have to do is cram these people in pens called fan zones with no where to piss or shit and your waiting for a disaster to happen, In fact I was talking to a few lads at work yesterday and they said there way back home out of Manchester there were loads of Rangers fans on the train who had decided to go back to their hotels as there was that many people in the fan zones they would get a better view of the match back at their hotel room plus they couldent move.
in fact every Rangers fan i and whoever else i know met that day were well behaved and in good spirits, they mingled well with the locals and the overall atmosphere was great, it was only later on that things began to get tense when a few dickheads had to much to drink and began behaving like knobs.
I'm not making excuses for the Rangers fans concerened but every club has them and it doesnt take much for them to kick off, the big screen failing in Piccadilly gardens was the catalyst and set the cat amongst the pigeons, that would have happened with any set of fans in that situation and under those circumstances, and it was only a small minority of those fans ,its no coinciidence that in other fan zones there was hardly any trouble where the screens were working.
The Rangers Fans that caused the trouble are scum of the earth and hopefully will be found out and dealt with but i could never tar every fan with that brush like a lot of people around the net are trying to do, It was a tiny minority and the aftermath was mainly rubbish and piss left on the streets which made the place look like a warzone but that was down to lack of facilities.
Most local people I know including myself found the Rangers fans to be friendly and up for the craic , no doubt others will have a different tale to tell but i'm just saying it as i saw it , I'll probbaly never see anything like it again but for reasons good and bad it was a Historical day and one I'll never forget as will no doubt most Rangers fans who were there.
Its sad really as with proper organisation this could have been one hell of a
party for all the right reasons but then again with so many numbers ure gonna get the small amount of dickheads willing to spoil it, at the end of the day the locals embraced the Rangers fans and it was recpirocated in the main, the trouble was with the fans and the authorities and only a tiny % at that, had it been the fans and locals then it would have been a sad day indeed.
I just hope a lot of lessons have been learnt from this as this was so near to becoming a great day for all concerened and it would be a sad state of affairs if we keep letting the minority spoil it for the majority as seems the case with every walk of life these days.