Rangers Reaction: Panic on the streets of Dundee; Michael Beale's 'trust' issue; strange but true manager fact

There was a heavier than normal police presence outside Tannadice yesterday (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Panic on the streets of Dundee

It was hard to avoid humming one particular Smiths song while walking towards Tannadice for yesterday’s game. “There’s panic on the streets of Carlisle, Dublin, Dundee, Humberside…” warbled Morrissey on the 1986 song Panic. And while I have no insight regarding the situation in Carlisle, Dublin and Humberside yesterday afternoon, I can report there was indeed some mild panic on the streets of Dundee following extensive internet chatter about hooligan firms from as far away as London hitting Jute City for something more than Sunday afternoon tiffin. To quote football violence expert Danny Dyer, it was hard to get one’s nut around. Why would casuals from the likes of West Ham, Chelsea and the like be bothered to convene in Dundee on a chilly afternoon in January ahead or indeed after what turned out to be a very humdrum game between Dundee United and Rangers? The two clubs don’t like each other, that’s fairly common knowledge. But even then, it seemed a slight overreaction for meatheads the length of Britain to converge on Dundee to unleash fury on the locals.

A Wikipedia page was even mocked up to mark “the Great War of Dundee” between the likes of Rangers FC, Linfield FC, Millwall FC on one side and, rather unfairly it seemed, just Dundee United FC on the other. Result? “Ongoing,” it reported. Many had taken the threats seriously. The owners of the Snug Bar, on Church Street, took the pre-emptive step of boarding up its windows. Mounted police, meanwhile, patrolled the back streets, not a common sight on a Sunday afternoon in Dundee. The heightened police presence seemed to have the desired effect. There appeared to be little of note happening outside the stadium, likewise inside the stadium – on the pitch and off. if anything, both sets of supporters seemed slightly more muted than normal. And by the time this reporter passed by the Snug a couple of hours or so after full-time, calm had been very much restored. Shania Twain was blaring out through the open door, and all was well.

Rangers not Real Madrid yet

Michael Beale isn’t going to get carried away by a 2-0 win over a side struggling near the bottom of the table. However, he knows just how hard it can be at Tannadice. The last he was involved in a Rangers league defeat came at the stadium – a 1-0 defeat near the start of the 2020/21 season. Jamie Robson, now at Lincoln City, scored the winner. It remains the only league defeat Beale has suffered while at Ibrox as either first-team coach or manager. Beale was understandably pleased not to come unstuck on his return yesterday although he would have liked the win to have been more comprehensive. After scoring twice so soon after half-time, Rangers seemed to ease off slightly. Beale revealed he still has "trust" issues with the team - it is, after all, early days since they got back together again.

“What I would say, in all the six games so far I think we could have scored more, and we have scored quite a few,” he said. “That is a good sign. Now we have stopped the ball going in the other end, that’s a good sign. We have to go again next week against Aberdeen (in the Viaplay Cup semi-final). I am not going to let them off the hook because I don’t trust them that much just yet! They have to earn that over ten,15, 20 games. But so far, so good.” He added: “We are not Real Madrid just yet, but we are moving in the right direction…”

Beale’s week at the helm

One very curious statistic emerged yesterday. Beale was only appointed Rangers manager at the beginning of last month and yet he has already been in charge of games played on every day of the week. If one includes his opening friendly game against Bayer Leverkusen, played on a traditional Saturday afternoon though at the less traditional time of 1pm, he has since been in the dug out for encounters v Hibs (Thursday), Aberdeen (Tuesday), Ross County (Friday), Motherwell (Wednesday) and Celtic (Monday). Yesterday was his first Sunday fixture, bringing up the full house in just his seventh outing. Strange but true and surely a first for a Rangers manager so early in their tenure.