RANGERS chairman John Gilligan has urged supporters to ditch the pyrotechnics after the club were hit with another UEFA fine.
Fined a total of £28,000, the Ibrox club avoided a partial stadium closure after a firework display during their recent 4-1 defeat to Lyon in the Europa League.
A fine of approximately £11,500 was followed by a penalty of £15,900 for a similar incident in the earlier fixture away to Malmo.
And interim chairman Gilligan fears the punishments will only increase in scale unless the pyrotechnics stop.
‘After a fantastic result in Malmo, we were all disappointed with the Europa League result against Lyon, but I was proud to see the supporters staying with Philippe and the team until the final whistle,’ said Gilligan.
Rangers have been fined £28,000 by UEFA after a firework display against Lyon on October 3
Rangers chairman John Gilligan has urged Ibrox supporters not to use pyro
‘The biggest disappointment of that evening was the actions of a small minority of supporters, whose use of pyrotechnics at the match has seen the club fined €13,750 by UEFA. This is in addition to a €19,000 fine for a similar incident in the match with Malmo.
‘My message is the use of pyrotechnics must stop and stop now at all of our matches home and away. Not only could the repercussions become ever-larger for the club, many supporters have difficulty coping with the effects of pyrotechnics, whether that be the smoke or loud bangs they produce. It is desperately unfair for any Rangers supporter to come to a match and be affected in such a manner.’
In a chairman’s update Gilligan confirmed that director of football operations Creag Robertson will leave Rangers ‘in the coming weeks to pursue new opportunities’, but denied that the club were now facing a leadership vacuum after a number of key departures.
Creag Robertson is set to leave his role as director of football operations
‘We must thank Creag for his contribution in several roles since he joined the club in 2016 and we wish him well in his future endeavours.
‘With Creag moving on, I have seen some reports of the club being without leadership. I can assure you that is not the case with George Letham and myself, who have deep knowledge of business and our great club, working tirelessly alongside our executive management team to continue to drive the club forward.’
Director of football recruitment Nils Koppen was quoted recently stating that planning for the January window was well underway. Gilligan also reiterated his stance that that the club hope to fill the chairman and chief executive roles quickly.
‘Of course, we are determined to fill the chairman and CEO roles as quickly as possible, and our recruitment consultants have already produced short lists of very strong and experienced candidates for both roles.
‘On the commercial front, Karim Virani and his team have delivered an outstanding new front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with the Kindred group, while we have been really pleased with the work done in such a short space of time by Elior on the catering front.
‘The financial uplift in both deals, together with the strong financial oversight and controls actioned by CFO, James Taylor will positively benefit the club going forward.’