Rangers boss rejects notion he has Government “message” amid shut-out

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Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has said he hasn’t “got a message” for the authorities as he was probed about the return of fans to football stadiums.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon directly talked down demands in an open letter written by the SPFL which asked for an urgent meeting on the return of football fans with club’s risking financial ruin.

The SPFL had garnished the support of clubs like Aberdeen and Celtic in the hope the Scottish Government would speed up the return of fans with some areas of England in their own tiered system allowing as many as 4000 supporters back in next week.

Gerrard said that whilst Rangers and the club’s players are missing fans, it’s not his job to deliberate over these matters.

“I haven’t got a message”, said Gerrard [Rangers].

“I think I leave the authorities to do what they do, they’re the people that make the big decisions and we follow the rules and guidelines.

“I certainly welcome the news down in England about getting supporters back and its nice and positive we can see some movement down there.

“The players are craving the fans back, I’m no different, and hopefully when it’s safe to do so we can start building hem numbers up and we can get back to normality.

“But I’m not in a position to give messages out to the government or those that make the big decisions.”

As of December 2nd, English regions in tier 1 and tier 2 being able to allow supporters back into stadiums with a max capacity of 4000 spectators or 50% of grounds in tier 1 [BBC Sport].

But with large gatherings falling under the remit of devolved powers, football clubs in Scotland are being impacted by stronger measures as part of the Covid-19 lockout.

Given the much-deliberation over the financial implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on not just football clubs in Scotland but those across the world, the SPFL have pleaded with the Scottish Government.

However the First Minister said “the idea that we are restricting anything right now for no good reason has no basis in reality” and warned Neil Doncaster they couldn’t look at one area of society in “isolation” [Scotsman].