Rangers’ managing director Stewart Robertson has insisted Rangers’ response to the scenes following Saturday’s Cup Final defeat to Hibs was wholly appropriate.
Many non-Rangers supporters were astonished at the wording of Rangers initial statement which criticised Hibs’ Chairman Rod Petrie amongst others, but Robertson claimed that this was not a knee jerk response but had been carefully thought through.
Robertson told an exclusive RangersTV interview: “Firstly, let me say well done to Hibs for winning the Cup on Saturday. Their victory was deserved and to win the Cup for the first time in 114 years is obviously a big day in their history.
“So congratulations to them, but from our own perspective, those scenes on Saturday were horrendous. For our players and our staff to have to be placed in that situation in the National Stadium – being attacked in their place of work effectively – is just awful and shouldn’t happen to anyone in any shape or form.
“The club’s response on Saturday and on Sunday has been very measured and very considered, and not a knee-jerk reaction.
“It was very carefully thought through over what we were going to say. We feel it was appropriate given the circumstances of what happened.
“Ultimately, players and staff were attacked, and what needs to be the focus going forward is how we prevent that happening again. We called for an investigation, and to be fair to the SFA, they have implemented that really quickly.
“Police Scotland have also initiated an investigation, and we look forward to what comes from that, and we will assist them in any way we can in terms of those investigations.
“It’s not right though that players and staff can go to their work and be attacked in the way that our guys were on Saturday.
“We asked for the investigation, and they have gone ahead with that. We would look for a prompt response – these things have to be done thoroughly and robustly, and we appreciate that will take a bit of time, but we don’t want that to drag on, and ideally have it all done and dusted prior to the start of next season so we know where we are.
“We would like to think the punishments that are meted out are wholly appropriate for the horrendous scenes that we all saw, and that they are very robust.”
Robertson also revealed the club have been in regular contact with the Scottish FA since the incident, and he has thanked their Chief Executive Stewart Regan for apologising to Rangers.
He continued: “I have spoken to Stewart Regan on a number of occasions now, and he has apologised for what has happened – and we appreciate that apology – and he also did it publically, which again, we appreciate.
“The response from the SFA has been as you would expect.”
He added: “All we are looking to see and we have said this since the new Board came in, is for this club to be treated the same as everyone else and to be treated fairly.
“We want a balanced view when it comes to Rangers, and as a board we will always defend Rangers Football Club.
“It has to be remembered that the supporters played a massive role in wrestling the club into the hands of the current board, and they are a key, key part going forward.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
