Zenit St Petersburg 2, Rangers 0, City of Manchester –10

There were 100,000 Rangers fans in Manchester on Wednesday night for the UEFA Cup Final.

I’ll start again.

There were 150,000 Rangers fans in Manchester on Wednesday night for the UEFA Cup Final.

No, I’ll try it again.

There were 200,000 Rangers fans in Manchester on Wednesday night for the UEFA Cup Final.

It doesn’t really matter how many fans crammed into Manchester on Wednesday night. There were a lot of them, they didn’t have tickets, one of the screens broke down, some of the fans started a riot.

Interesting fact: Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium capacity is 50,000. So, at least 150,000 Rangers fans in Manchester were not regular visitors to Ibrox. Were they really Rangers fans?

Did these fans bring shame on to Rangers Football Club and Scottish football? Probably. Can you blame Rangers Football Club for the riots? Definitely not.

In a generous estimate, a cross section of the 200,000 Rangers fans in Manchester represents a (largely male) cross-section of British society.

There would have been quite a few fairly intelligent people in there, and quite a few fairly unintelligent people in there. And the problem is, you just can’t legislate for mass stupidity.

Politcians have to pussy-foot around when they are talking about chavs, scummers, dickheads and slobs for fear of bad press. But the reality is this section of society makes up an unhealthy proportion of the British demographic. Everyone knows it exists, but you’re not allowed to say it.

It’s these mindless morons and yobbo’s who caused the trouble in Manchester because they were drunk (no excuse) are thick (no excuse) and don’t think about the way they are behaving (no excuse). See Jeremy Kyle and you’ll see these people. They have no connection to Rangers, they are everywhere.

What’s the solution? I don’t think there is one. Invite them round, be as hospitable as you can. And pray your TV doesn’t pack in.