Livingston captain Marvin Bartley has labelled Rangers fans ‘absolutely fantastic’ for the support they showed towards players taking the knee at Ibrox.
The Gers took on Livi in their Premiership opener on Saturday afternoon and both teams took the knee prior to kick-off in a showing of solidarity against racism.
There have been instances of booing towards the gesture since the return of fans to stadia, with the case of the England team around Euro 2020 the most high-profile example.
Gers skipper James Tavernier penned an open letter to fans prior to the weekend asking them to back it, though, and Bartley himself recently spoke out on the issue during a Sky Sports interview.
The Livi captain admitted he was ‘extremely nervous’ about how things would go before the match but thought the crowd at Ibrox was ‘absolutely fantastic’.
“I was extremely nervous about taking the knee today with fans in the stadium!” he wrote on Twitter.
“The Rangers fans were absolutely fantastic during it and they should be applauded massively because if it had gone the other way headlines would have been written. I thank you all, truly uplifting!”
It’s obviously rare for the away side’s captain to praise the home team’s fans but this is an issue that’s bigger than football and bigger than rivalries.
Rangers will be delighted to see the praise, too, particularly given all the work that has gone into their ‘Everyone, Anyone’ campaign in recent times.
The Gers ran out 3-0 winners in the match itself and here are our Player Ratings.
