Rangers fans must listen to Philippe Clement and park pyro but at least divide is now thing of the past – Barry Ferguson

Everyone knows how I feel about the Rangers fans. As I’ve written many times in this column, I consider myself to be one of them.

And I must admit, the scenes at Dens Park on Wednesday night, when they set off a coordinated pyrotechnic display at the start of the game against Dundee, really did look the part. But it all threatened to backfire even more spectacularly on the team and on manager Philippe Clement when the fire alarms went off and the police ordered both teams off the pitch.

And that’s why I hope the supporters were listening afterwards when Clement pleaded with them to park the pyro for the foreseeable future and focus purely on giving their passion and backing to the players. Unfortunately, the risk to health and safety cannot be ignored, no matter how impressive it may look to the rest of us. And, after hearing what the manager had to say about it, the guys who organise this stuff will hopefully realise they’ve got to toe the line from now on.

Because – and this is the most important part of it as far as I’m concerned – these things are dangerous at the best of times, never mind in enclosed spaces with thousands of people around. The last thing we want to see is someone getting badly injured by one of them. Or worse. But I don’t think for one minute these fans travelled all the way up the road the other night looking to cause a security issue or put their fellow fans at risk.

They did it to put on a show as a sign of their togetherness with the team. It was their way of saying that the divide between the fans in the stands and the players on the pitch is now a thing of the past. And that’s quite an achievement in a very short space of time for Clement, given how badly broken things had become in the