With just over a week to go until Rangers are due to travel to Lyon for the final Europa League Group A encounter, supporters still don’t know whether they will be permitted to attend.
This afternoon the Ibrox club released an update to communicate the latest info to fans but as things stand, the situation is still very vague.
A statement from Rangers included:
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are yet to receive confirmation from police as to their ability to adequately resource the operation required to facilitate our travelling support in Lyon.”
“Although we have raised concerns regarding supporters who have already made travel arrangements for this fixture, we are yet to receive a clear answer regarding travel advice and ticketing.”
Difficulty
At this stage, it appears unlikely that Rangers will be able to take a full allocation to France given the very short time constraints in play. Some will look to attend regardless of restrictions and procedures, but for many the decision will be taken out of their hands.
Over the last few weeks, there has been a growing frustration from supporters at a lack of info coming from Ibrox regarding the trip to France but this has been exacerbated by the latest situation of concerns about the ‘Omicron’ variant of Covid. With Lyon’s close proximity to Geneva, a section of followers had planned to transit via the Swiss city but that has been scuppered by the Swiss authorities who have put in place quarantine guidelines for UK residents.
The blow is somewhat softened as the game in France next week is meaningless in a competitive sense – on the pitch, the business has been done thanks to the 2-0 win last week which secured Rangers passage to the Last 32 of the Europa League, with Lyon already confirmed as group winners.
There remains a great opportinity for Giovanni van Bronckhorst to test some other players against a top side, away from the immediate Premiership priority as well as the financial incentive at play.
Meanwhile, fans will wait impatiently for the final advice in regard to the Lyon trip at this late stage, almost one week to matchday.