UEFA must be on full alert for Prague trip
IT is great news for both Glen Kamara and Rangers that a contract extension has been secured for the midfielder and it sorts his future. It will help all parties. Going to Prague this week to face Sparta in the Europa League, it will obviously be a reminder of the night at Ibrox against Slavia last season when — through no fault of his own — the Finnish international became the focal point of an unsavoury, nasty and embarrassing situation.
Slavia defender Ondrej Kudela was banned for 10 games by UEFA for racially abusing the Rangers player in their last-16 tie in March.
I hope there is no apprehension from Kamara this week. I hope there is no nervousness about going to Prague because he should have the confidence, as should all players, that he is able to play football freely anywhere in the world.
I hope the eyes of the world are on the Czech Republic and UEFA are watching closely.
The recent World Cup qualifier in Hungary, when some of England’s players were racially abused, is a sad reminder of what still exists in a lot of countries.
I’m not saying everybody in the Czech Republic is racist — of course not. But Sparta Prague need to know that everybody is watching and their behaviour will be under scrutiny.
Kamara should be going into that environment and thinking solely about trying to win a game for his club. He is a footballer and we should be concentrating on that.
He has been very calm. He has had huge support from across the board. There has been complete condemnation of Kudela. But some of the reaction from Slavia Prague left a nasty taste.
Kamara has dealt with the situation brilliantly. Unfortunately, it won’t have been the first time he has been racially abused.
But the fact it was done in such a high-profile game in this era, and still having to deal with being racially abused from a player on the pitch, is beyond any form of decency. It’s ridiculous that this behaviour is still going on.
In Scotland recently, Kelty Hearts striker Nathan Austin and Airdrie’s Rico Quitongo claimed they were racially abused.
That these boys are still being put in these unacceptable situations and having to deal with them is embarrassing. I hate the fact we have people still in our country who think it’s alright to racially abuse players.
The first time I witnessed racist abuse was when I was 15 years old and I went to watch St Mirren play West Ham in a pre-season friendly in 1986.
I’m from Paisley and West Ham’s full-back George Parris was racially abused by several members of the crowd.
I didn’t receive a reply but I felt compelled to write a letter to Parris to tell him how disgusted I was about the abuse. Paisley is a good town and not everybody acts like those who abused him. I was hugely embarrassed.
We’ve made massive strides but, after all these years, players are still being abused and that leaves a bad taste. When abuse is so obvious on the pitch, it’s toe curling. It shows there’s still a lot of work to be done on the situation.
I hope Kamara just goes about his game in Prague. Steven Gerrard will hope the authorities will be watching for any racist abuse on Thursday.
As a manager, you want to look after your players. Your players are like your children. You are a parent with your players. That’s how I manage. I had the experience of supporting Shay Logan when he received racist abuse during my time as Aberdeen manager.
I’m sure Gerrard is the same. You have to love them and put an arm around them when they need support. It will have hurt the Rangers manager to see someone he works so closely with being abused.
Right across the country, the support for Kamara was clear because it was so abhorrent.
Gerrard will want to focus on the game, of course. We all want to be talking about the game.
It’s not just down to managers to support players, it’s down to the authorities to support them, too.
We saw Hungary against England when some of the behaviour from the Hungarian fans was from the dark ages.
There’s so much more that the authorities can do to stamp out abuse. When my kids are older, I hope abuse of this nature will be a thing of the past.
On the game itself, it’s very important for Rangers. They lost their opener against Lyon, who are the strongest team in the group, but it’s games against Sparta Prague and Brondby that will determine if they progress.
But Rangers are more than capable of getting the desired result on Thursday.
As far as Celtic are concerned, there are still some question marks — especially after losing at Livingston last week — regarding their ability to keep winning games consistently.
We know the attacking threat they possessed when Kyogo Furuhashi was fit. But without him, and now minus Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie and Leigh Griffiths, their options up front are limited.
I feel for Ange Postecoglou. Just when he feels that he is getting somewhere, he is hit with one thing after another. He has been dealt a tough hand.
Bayer Leverkusen will be such a difficult game. Any Bundesliga side are a tough nut to crack and it will take a massive performance at Celtic Park to earn a win.