Ex-Fifa official: Uefa told to hold crunch Rangers talks after six-figure development
Uefa should visit Rangers and hold showdown talks if they really want to stamp out poor fan behaviour, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee claimed constantly handing Rangers fines is a “waste of time” and equivalent to a “poke in the eye”.
FootballScotland reported last week (20 June) that the Gers had been handed another two fines for Uefa taking the total to nine, costing £117,000, for the 2021-22 season.
The most recent fines was a result of fan behaviour during the victory over RB Leipzig in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final.
“The Scottish FA in Europe have a great reputation in terms of fan behaviour and generally, player behaviour,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“This is more about a clarification. I would like someone from the Uefa disciplinary committee come across to Scotland and sit with Rangers and someone from the management of the practical side and say ‘Look, how can we avoid this?’
“This is about avoidance. The fines we’re talking about, to be honest, are a waste of time in the big picture of a club and its finances. It’s like a bit of a poke in the eye and it goes away.
“It doesn’t achieve what they have set out to do which is avoid problems in the future. Let’s go down the education route, not the token fine to say ‘You’re wrong and we’re right’.”
Rangers made it all the way to the final of the Europa League before being defeated by Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.
They will enter the 2022-23 Champions League one qualifying round before the group stage.
In other news, Kieran Maguire has revealed Rangers have exploited an ‘English club’ with an official announcement.