Hold fire

Pyros may have looked spectacular but fans should just enjoy the sparkles on the pitch

EVERYONE knows how I feel about the Rangers fans. As I've written many times in this column, I consider myself to be one of them.

And I must admit, the scenes at Dens Park on Wednesday night - when they set off a coordinated pyrotechnic display at the start of the game against Dundee really did look the part.

But it all threatened to backfire even more spectacularly on the team and on manager Philippe Clement when fire alarms went off and the police ordered both teams off the pitch.

That's why I hope the supporters were listening when Clement pleaded with them to park the pyros for the foreseeable and focus purely on giving their passion plus backing to the players. 

Unfortunately, the risk to health and safety cannot be ignored, no matter how impressive it may look to the rest of us.

And after hearing what the manager had to say about it, the guys who organize this stuff will hopefully realize they have to toe the line from now on.

That's because - and this is the most important part of it - these things are dangerous at the best of times, never mind in enclosed spaces with thousands of people around. The last thing we want to see is someone getting badly injured by one of them, or worse.

But I don't think for one minute these fans traveled all the way up the road the other night looking to cause a security issue or put their fellow fans at risk.

They did it to put on a show as a sign of their togetherness with the team.

It was their way of saying the divide between the fans in the stands and the players on the pitch is now a thing of the past.

And that's some achievement in a very short space of time for Clement, given how badly broken things had become in the days and weeks before his appointment.