Rangers’ Scottish Premiership victory over St Johnstone was marred by protests and an eventual walk-out by the Union Bears fan group.
The vocal Rangers Ultras group unfurled a series of banners in the crowd at Ibrox in protest against the club falling 15 points behind in the Scottish Premiership title race.
Rangers’ abysmal away form has seen the club win only three out of 11 games on the road this season, whilst the Gers’ long-held trophy record (118) was usurped by Celtic (119) at Hampden.
With the Parkhead side (54) now closing in on Rangers all-time domestic league championship haul (55) tensions are rising and the group is trying to force change.
Now, the Union Bears have warned that the protests will continue until they see tangible change on and off the park.
Union Bears stage Ibrox protest
The Union Bears had three real messages for the Rangers board as they staged a controversial walk-out in the 55th minute against St Johnstone.
First unfurling a series of banners, these took aim at what many Rangers fans agree has been a drop in ‘standards’ in every department of the club.
From the boardroom to the dugout to the pitch, Rangers fans are looking for more accountability as their hard earned cash is spent on repeatedly finishing second.
The banners read:
“EVERYTHING FROM EVERYONE? FANS GAVE ALL WHILE YOU LET OUR STANDARDS FALL.”
“OUR LOYALTY IS NOT A FREE PASS FOR FAILURE.”
“YOUR INEPTITUDE IS DESTROYING OUR CLUB. TIME FOR FANS TO FORCE CHANGE.”
The walk-out then split the Rangers support with several fans choosing to boo the Union Bears for the protest.
Rangers Ultras send warning to Ibrox board
The Union Bears have now released a follow up statement thanking those Rangers fans who joined in their protests and indicating more will soon follow.
In a statement posted on X, the Union Bears said:
”Thank you to every Rangers fan who participated in the protest actions today. We will continue until there is real change for our club.”
This is a threat that the Rangers hierarchy will not take lightly as the Union Bears get into a stand-off with the club, management, players and fellow supporters.
Speaking about the protests at full-time, Philippe Clement tried to turn the focus back onto the fans who still believe in the project at Ibrox.
“It’s a big difference in atmosphere with two weeks ago, in the Old Firm against Celtic, that’s clear for everybody,” Clement told the press after the match.
”But I’m focused on the team, I’m focused on getting the results, and I know also out of my experience here, if we play well, if we get the results, that the fans are always behind the team.
“I understand the frustration. I said it also after the Dundee game, I was also frustrated about that, that I didn’t see what I wanted to see from the team.
“The team was also frustrated about that. The team wanted to repay that in the first half and they did.
“And you see also that a lot of fans, also with the frustration of the week, stand behind the team in that moment.
“It’s about us on the pitch, getting more points and showing the football that we need to show.
“I want everybody to be united. Simple. You can see it as a positive that still a lot of people are behind everything. But I want to have everybody united.
“So, that’s what I wanted last year when I came in, and it was also totally not the case at the moment.
“But it has to do with performance, and that’s normal. We want consistency, I want consistency, and fans want consistency to get better results.
”And in that way, we have the consistency in the home games.
“We have now 31 points out of 33, I think. We have consistency in our European season, but we didn’t have consistency away at home.
”So, those are things to work on with all the squads.”
