The Rangers Hierarchy is Actively Complicit in Union Bears Criminality
Why a hierarchy haunted by past instability is helping to raise funds for a group of football hooligans with a toxic legacy tied to gangland figures.
For years, within the marble halls of Ibrox, the narrative that was carefully curated by both the club’s PR department and the leadership of the Union Bears, suggested that the group was merely a vibrant source of colour, atmosphere, and passionate support. We are told their presence is essential to the ‘Ibrox experience’, and that their tifo displays - funded by the hard-earned pennies of ordinary supporters - are a harmless tribute to the club’s history and their own beliefs.
But that facade has been well and truly shattered over the years, by the chilling revelation that the Union Bears’ ‘fan culture’ was nothing more than a shield for criminality, violence, and a burgeoning paramilitary-style entitlement that the Rangers hierarchy is not only ignoring but supporting and actively asking fans to donate to via their own social channels.
By facilitating donation drives and providing the Union Bears with unprecedented access to the stadium, the Rangers board [past and present] are complicit in helping to fund a group whose activities extend far beyond paint, bedsheets, and cardboard. This is an indictment of a leadership that has learned all the wrong lessons from their predecessors. Fearing the wrath of the Ultras more than the stains on the club’s reputation, the new hierarchy has entered into their own Faustian pact with the militant right wing group.
The Myth of the “Tifo Fund”
The Union Bears frequently appeal to the wider Rangers fan base for donations, helping to fund their massive banners and pyrotechnic displays. The club hierarchy often facilitates this, granting them the legitimacy of official buckets around the stadium footprint. Yet when the Rangers board encourages the “average Billy” in the Sandy Jardine Stand to drop five pounds into a UB bucket or a follower on social media to donate via Paypal, they are indirectly financing a lifestyle of organised criminality.
It is no secret within the Scottish football landscape that these funds do more than buy blue and white plastic. They subsidise the purchase of illegal pyrotechnics -dangerous incendiaries that have seen the club fined repeatedly by UEFA and the Scottish FA, and which pose a genuine physical risk to fellow supporters. More sinister is the logistical support these funds provide for “away days” that have nothing to do with football. We are talking about the “organised fights” on the streets of Scotland and across Europe - clashes with rival “firms” where the Union Bears represent themselves not as fans, but as a street gang.
The discovery of weapons during a tifo setup four years ago at Ibrox before a derby game against Celtic - the very activity the club claims is a “positive contribution” - proves that the stadium has become a base of operations for their criminality. When hammers, knives, and other weaponry are found hidden among banners, the “atmosphere” argument dies. You don’t need a claw hammer to hoist a picture of John Greig.
The Shadow of Ross McGill
If anyone doubts the transition of the Union Bears from a fan group to a criminal enterprise, they need only look at the career of former leader Ross McGill. McGill did not just “fall into” crime; he used his station and the infrastructure of the UB to launch his criminal enterprise.
The UB provided McGill with a ready-made network, a sense of untouchability, and a platform to recruit. His resignation as “capo” in September 2021 - with Rangers fans paying tribute to his efforts - was followed swiftly by the news that he was under police investigation for links to organised crime and drug dealing. He subsequently fled to Spain and then to Dubai in 2022, where he allegedly became a major player in international drug cartels and orchestrated violent attacks in Scotland.
The fact that McGill was doing all of that during his time leading the Union Bears should be a moment of reflection as well as concern for the Ibrox board. They should be questioning where the money is going and what it is funding.
Another prominent member of the Union Bears. Lloyd Cross, was jailed for six years for his part in a £100million plot to import cocaine hidden in banana boxes. This led to the Ultras group showing support for their group member and hooligan coke dealer with a pyro and banner display during a Europa League clash with Lyon two years ago. It begs the question who else is using being a member of the Union Bears as cover for their criminality? And are any proceeds of these crimes being funnelled back into the group’s bank accounts?
Yet with all of this, the club have decided to double down on their relationship with McGill’s successors. By failing to distance the club from the hooligan culture that produced McGill and Cross, the hierarchy is signalling that as long as you sing songs, unfurl banners, and make enough noise, the club will provide you with a cloak of legitimacy and turn a blind eye to your “side hustles.”
A Hierarchy Governed by Fear
The current Rangers board, knows fine well what has gone on at the club since its 2012 inception and the years of internal instability that plagued the club - appearing to be paralysed by the prospect of facing fan unrest themselves. They remember the protests, the boycotts, the vitriolic banners aimed at the previous regimes and this fear has clearly led to a policy of appeasement by the new owners.
The recent “Russell Martin managerial debacle” left the board feeling vulnerable. In their desperation to keep the fans on their side, they look to have handed the keys to the kingdom to a group that views the club as a host organism to be exploited.
The board’s logic is transparent, if we give the Union Bears what they want they won’t turn their megaphones on us. It is a cowardly strategy. By buying peace in the stands, they are selling the club’s soul to a group that prioritises its own brand and criminality over the safety of Rangers fans and reputation of Rangers Football Club.
The Complicity of Silence
Every time the club issues a feeble statement going forward, about “working with fan groups” after a riot or a weapon find, they insult the intelligence of the thousands of law-abiding supporters. By allowing the UB to use Ibrox as a warehouse for their “tifo” gear - which we now know included weaponry - the board has turned Ibrox stadium into a liability.
What happens when these weapons are used? What happens when an organised street fight, funded by “tifo donations,” leads to a fatality? The blood will not just be on the hands of the thugs or the fans who donated to the group, it will be on the hands of the men in suits who authorised the donation buckets, who promoted donation links on social media, and gave the thugs the keys to the kingdom.
The Need for an Exorcism
The Union Bears are not the heartbeat of Rangers; they are a parasite. A football club should be a community asset, not a recruitment ground for street fighters or a front for criminal enterprises.
The Rangers hierarchy needs to find the backbone that has been missing since 2012. The current leadership is presiding over a descent into the dark ages of hooliganism, hidden behind the colourful smoke of a fan-funded tifo. If the board continues to help bankroll and promote this criminality, they deserve all the “wrath” that is eventually, inevitably, coming their way.