LIVINGSTON chairman Gordon McDougall has apologised to furious Rangers fans who bombarded his club with complaints after liquidation jibes in their match programme. The West Lothian supremo responded after raging Ibrox supporters contacted Livi to demand an explanation over wording in the magazine released for Saturday’s game. The visitors page opened with the line: “This weekend three years ago, the club then known as Rangers defeated Hibernian at Ibrox.” In the player profile pages, Steven Smith’s section read: “Stevie enjoyed eight years with the now defunct club.” Kris Boyd’s read: “Another who had a spell at the now defunct club.” In the previous meetings section, it stated: “It is, of course, the first meeting of the two sides since the newly-formed Rangers joined Division Three, but safe to say our record against the now-defunct outfit was not particularly strong.” Ibrox fans were raging with the references and have threatened a boycott, which prompted McDougall to issue a statement last night. It read: “As someone who has never sent a message on Facebook, Twitter or any other form of Social Media in my lifetime, I was astonished on Saturday night to be told that Rangers fans were contacting the stadium reception to complain about certain content in our match programme. “Not having had time to read any of the programme content as preparations for the game had taken up all of my time for the past week and more, I made a point of looking through the offending parts in order to understand what the concern was. Livingston chairman Gordon McDougall hails new deal “I can only offer my sincere apologies to any fans who have been offended by what was written as there was no intention to offend anyone. “It did place a bit of a dampener on what had been a really enjoyable afternoon for myself personally as it had been a pleasure being able to help the many Rangers fans who had ticketing problems etc, including finding seats for a blind supporter and those who had not received their postal delivery. The game was also played in great spirit by all concerned. “As a true football fan who has paid my way through the turnstiles for countless years before entering the boardroom, I fully understand the emotion involved for their fans in the current Rangers situation. “The thousands of fans Rangers brought to Livingston on Saturday are greatly appreciated by everyone at Livingston as I am certain they are at every ground they have visited over recent seasons. “Rangers are a wonderful addition to the Championship this year in what promises to be a truly memorable race for promotion. “We are fortunate to have a small, but devoted group of people who produce our match programme here at Livingston. “Those people spend hours of unpaid time preparing their copy and scoring points in print is not part of our club’s agenda. “They are all fans of this club who have followed our own chequered history, often critically, as it has ironically followed a similar path to that of Rangers in recent years. “I have spoken with the programme editor today and can assure all fans that there is absolutely no bigotry or sectarian issue or intention at Livingston. “We are a club who welcome everyone with the same warmth and appreciation of their interest in football.” John
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 23:19:41 +0000
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