Oh Manchester, so much to answer for

May the 14th saw thousands of Rangers fans travelling to Manchester for their team's appearance in the Uefa Cup final. Was it 100,000, 150,000, 175,000, 200,000 who travelled south down the congested M6? Who knows how many turned up.

What is certain is that a lot of them got tore into the swally as soon as they arrived - or had arrived already buzzin, man.

There was trouble:

• at the ground where a Russian fan was stabbed
• in the city centre where a large TV screen went bust near the start of the game
• and after the game where running battles with police appeared on CCTV and various news sites.

There were plenty reasons for this all kicking off:

• Swally. It was available from the likes of Tesco at 7am. A local councillor was so aggrieved by this he marched into a store and demanded they stop sales.
• The heat. It was a hot, sunny day and little mineral water would be drunk.
• Opportunity. The police allowed on the street drinking, whereas normally it's prohibited. Fans were there all day waiting on the evening kick-off with little else to do. There are no signs of the art galleries seeing increased attendance.
• Rangers got beat. A lot of hype and pre-match coverage encouraged the fans to think they could win this, while the polished Russian team just got on with it and had the technique and guile to achieve their victory.

There are arguments and counter-arguments about whether the council put on enough screens, or police or were prepared for such an invasion of over a hundred million fans arriving en masse but one thing that is certain is that the swally was the rocket fuel poured on anything resembling an ignition source.

Stats:

42 arrests

15 police officers arrested

52 assaults reported by ambulance crews

100 tonnes of rubbish cleared away

1 football club's reputation damaged

1 city's image as being inhabited by violent drunks underlined

1 nation's image as being inhabited by violent drunks also confirmed