Kilmarnock and Rangers point finger at each other over Rugby Park scenes
Kilmarnock have hit back at Rangers over what they have called an “inaccurate” statement by the Glasgow club.
The Rangers missive called on Kilmarnock and BBC pundits to apologise for comments made about the Ibrox side’s fans in the aftermath of the 2-1 winatrugbyparkontheopening weekend of the season.
Videos showed Rangers fans opening a gate outside the stadium and surging through as the match got under way, while other fans destroyed the roof of the disabled section in the away end after climbing on top of it to celebrate Connor Goldson’s late winner.
While Rangers condemned those on the roof and other supporters who went on to the pitch, they said the problems outside the ground had been caused by an issue with Kilmarnock’s ticketing system.
The Ayrshire club have now denied those claims, saying it was a ticket printing issue, and also questioned why their opponents released a statement before the investigations had been completed.
Akilliespokespersonsaid:“it was agreed and understood by all those attending last Friday’s debrief to wait until the investigations had been completed and appropriate actions identified and agreed between both clubs, the ticketing company, Police Scotland and East Ayrshire Council before issuing any public statement. This process remains ongoing.
“A printing issue in relation to a number of tickets in the Chadwick Stand caused a delay in some supporters gaining entry to the stadium.
“This was not a system-wide failure with the ticketing system and any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate.
“Kilmarnock Football Club does not accept that this delay gave Rangers supporters good reason to break through a gate and enter the ground.
“As Rangers have recognised, problems before the match had no bearing on the incident at the second goal when Rangers supporters entered the field of play and damaged the disabled roof covering to the point of collapse. It was extremely fortunate that no disabled supporters were seriously injured.”
Rangers had earlier called for apologies from Kilmarnock, MSP Willie Coffey and BBC pundits. The club released a statement via supporters’ group Club 1872 which took issue with “misinformed as well as misleading comments”.
It read: “Kilmarnock’s new ticketing system did indeed fail despite suggestions to the contrary. It has been accepted there was also a failure to deal properly with the problems this caused. There was no recognisable plan of action to deal with such a situation and it was very close to kickoff before someone thought the problem, which had started to cause panic among those Rangerssupporters whowere being pushed and squeezed together toward the turnstiles, should be brought to the attention of the police. By that time some Rangers fans were being crushed and in a state of alarm, and there are many testimonies which bear that out.
“We would hope to receive a retraction and an apology from Kilmarnock for having pointed the finger of blame at Rangers fans for the issues which arose ahead of kick-off.
“Those pundits, particularly two BBC Scotland contributors, Michael Stewart and Tom English, who made flippant and insulting comments without knowing the facts of what actually happened, might also wish to reconsider their comments and apologise now that the debriefing has revealed that a ticketing failure, and not the impatience of Rangers fans, caused the problem before the kick- off on Sunday.”
Rangers said it was “unacceptable” for some of their fans to go on to the pitch to celebrate Goldson’s goal. “Their presence on the pitch cannot be condoned and Rangers are working with Police Scotland to identify and trace those who crossed the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour,” added the statement. “The same applies to the handful of fans who jumped on to the roof of the enclosure reserved for disabled supporters causing that covering to collapse. Their behaviour endangered the safety of their fellow fans and we are fortunate no one was badly hurt. Those fans will also be dealt with appropriately as soon as they are identified.”