An industrial-estate warehouse complex would probably not be most Rangers supporters’ first choice of a fan zone at a European away game. But there are unlikely to be many complaints from the 2,000 who will watch their club’s Europa League match against Manchester United at Trafford Park’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre (BEC).

That thousands of Rangers fans are being allowed near a big screen anywhere in Manchester is a huge deal in a city still scarred by what a judge infamously called “the worst night of violence and destruction suffered by Manchester city centre since the Blitz” – otherwise known as the 2008 Uefa Cup final riots.

The hospitality being extended to ticketless supporters of the Glasgow giants – hundreds will also watch Thursday’s match at the very same city centre’s Shack Bar & Grill – is in stark contrast to the hostility they faced on the club’s last visit in 2010. Then, away fans without tickets to Rangers’ Champions League game against United were told to stay at home.

Those allowed to attend the match itself, meanwhile, were bussed into Wigan before being escorted by police to Old Trafford. That there will be no such restrictions placed on visiting supporters on Thursday is a major show of faith in those travelling from Glasgow this week, 17 years on from the night of shame that was May 14, 2008.

130,000 fans overwhelm Manchester

When Uefa awarded the final of its second club competition to what was then still the City of Manchester Stadium in October 2006, the odds of Rangers being in it were slim. They had failed to reach a major European final since their sole triumph in the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1972, only going close to doing so in the inaugural edition of the Champions League 21 years later.

They did not even make it past the last 16 of any European competition in the subsequent 14 seasons as – one Uefa Cup final appearance by Celtic aside – Scottish clubs struggled on the big stage. But the return to Rangers of legendary manager Walter Smith proved the catalyst for a remarkable campaign they began in the Champions League. They would have continued in it as well but for a dramatic group-stage collapse that consigned them to the last 32 of the Uefa Cup. They then defied the odds by battling through ties against Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting and Fiorentina to set up a final against Zenit St Petersburg.

All this triggered what a report published by Manchester City Council later called “the largest known migration of supporters for a single match,” as the number of Rangers fans forecast to make the pilgrimage to Manchester doubled from more than 50,000 to 100,000 between the semi-final and final. As it turned out, even that was a major underestimation.

Performers pelted off stage in fan zone

The expected influx for a game for which the club had been allocated 17,000 tickets was cause enough for serious concern. Amid fears tens of thousands of ticketless fans would gather outside what is now the Etihad Stadium, organisers made preventing a repeat of the likes of the Hillsborough disaster their “primary objective”. A number of fan zones were duly set up to screen the match, most notably in Piccadilly Gardens and Albert Square, both with capacity for 12,000 people. The council said Rangers advised beforehand that their fans would consume “large quantities of alcohol”, so it was also agreed a ban on drinking in the streets would be effectively unenforceable and would therefore be relaxed.

Many supporters did not even wait until the day of the Wednesday night game to head to Manchester, instead travelling down from Glasgow on the Monday or Tuesday. Come the morning of the match, the city centre began to resemble a sea of blue amid a Rangers fan takeover, symbolised by supporters scaling the Albert Memorial.

Sadly, it did not take long for any hopes of a carnival atmosphere to be dashed. With more than eight hours still to go before the 7.45pm kick-off, the first of several acts booked to entertain the crowds in the Piccadilly Gardens fan zone were forced off stage halfway through their set upon being pelted with missiles. No other acts performed that day “for safety reasons”.

‘The Battle of Piccadilly’

Trouble began to escalate as it became clear there were far more than 100,000 Rangers supporters in the city. By 4pm, and with the Piccadilly fan zone approaching capacity, some chose to vault the security barrier. The operators of the merchandise unit inside reported large numbers of people jumping on its roof and “urinating” on top of it. Over the next three hours, the crowds grew and disorder intensified.

Supporters “smashed” a marquee and “looted” the contents after staff fled for their own safety. A big-screen technician was pelted with bottles and missiles, one of which hit him on the forehead. The merchandise unit was “overrun” by “rowdy fans” and staff there also left, returning the next day to find tills smashed “and everything stolen”.

Then, with police and stewards already struggling to contain the violence, all hell broke loose.

Kick-off was fast approaching when an announcement was made that the fan zone’s big screen had failed, causing a riot involving “several hundred people” and “considerable violence directed at the police”. What the Manchester Evening News later dubbed ‘The Battle of Piccadilly’ spread through the area and continued during the final itself, which Rangers lost 2-0. At one point, the BBC News channel also interrupted normal programming to cover the carnage live.

Running battles between riot police and hundreds of hooligans were also captured on CCTV. Two officers had to be rescued after being kicked and stamped on by a baying mob. One was dragged to safety by a former soldier who compared the attackers to “a pack of wolves who had not been fed for days”. The other was only saved after a female Rangers fan lay across him and her boyfriend shouted to his assailants: “You are letting the team down!” The officer suffered a brain injury and was off work for six months, later saying he thought he was going to die at the hands of attackers who shouted: “Glass him!”.

Paramedics were also said to have been assaulted. Footage from a Greater Manchester Police helicopter showed what was one of several attacks on vehicles, while damage was also caused to bus stops and a bank. In a festival of violence that did not subside until after midnight, one Russian fan was stabbed in the back near the stadium itself. Forty-one people were arrested on the night, including six over the stabbing.

A number of fans, 39 police officers, and a police dog were hurt. Police injuries included a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs, the dog suffered a serious cut to its paw, while fans suffered cuts and at least one was bitten. Ambulance crews dealt with 52 cases of assault after the match. Eleven supporters were charged with criminal offences in the immediate aftermath of the riots, with a further 11 Rangers fans bailed pending further enquiries. Twelve supporters arrested were cautioned, and seven men, including one Zenit fan, were released without charge. Two investigations were launched into the riots, one into the conduct of fans, and another into the policing of the event, which resulted in 63 complaints that “excessive force” had been used.

‘No need for attacking paramedics and police’

Dawn on May 15 laid bare the true scale of the destruction as the city centre awoke to 7.5 tonnes of rubbish and debris. Buildings reeked from the foul stench of bodily fluids, with 400 temporary toilets having proven inadequate for the drunken horde. The Royal Exchange Theatre reported that its stage door lift entrance had been “flooded” with urine and the reception area there “stank for a week afterwards”.

The blame game quickly began, with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese saying: “I think it would be a real mistake for what was a very, very small minority of Rangers fans to say that their behaviour can be excused by a technical problem with a screen.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown branded the riots “a disgrace”, adding: “It was a minority but it was completely unacceptable for that to happen in a public place, where the Manchester authorities had made available the facilities for people to enjoy the match. It means that they have good reason to be angry about what happened.”

He also said there would be a review of public drinking laws. There were fears the violence would wreck England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup but Uefa communications director William Gaillard said: “I can’t believe that any other city would have done anything better.” The general secretary of the Rangers’ Supporters Association, John Macmillan, condemned the violence, adding: “There is no excuse for it to be honest. From what I saw before the game, there was no need for attacking paramedics and the police. It is indefensible.”

The club’s chief executive, Martin Bain, branded the previous night’s scenes “dreadful” but said he had been told they were “caused by supporters that don’t normally attach themselves to our support”. He vowed Rangers would do “everything we possibly can to help police find out who those perpetrators are”. They later said they had banned 10 supporters from “any connection to or involvement with Rangers Football Club in the future”, although they also denounced the “dire” failure of “sufficient back-up systems for the screen in Piccadilly Gardens”. The club only avoided action from Uefa because the game itself had been trouble-free.

£1.5m of damage and no Man Utd victory parade

The riots meant plans were scrapped for a city centre screening of the following Wednesday night’s Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea. The council later said: “There will be no live screenings of football in the city in our lifetime.”

The violence also killed off the prospect of a subsequent parade to celebrate United’s triumph in Moscow and their Premier League title win that season. A Manchester City Council report the following month found that at least 130,000 Rangers fans had been in the city on May 14, far more than had been anticipated. It said lessons should be learnt but described a Uefa Cup final in the city featuring Rangers as “an extraordinary event with a number of coincidences unlikely ever to be repeated”. It also said that, despite what was later reported to be £1.5 million worth of damage caused during the riots, the final had provided a £20 million boost to the local economy.

The police stepped up the hunt for the ringleaders of the attacks with the launch of Operation Gale, which led to officers scouring thousands of hours of CCTV to identify those caught on camera. The following January, an appeal was aired on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme in an attempt to trace 49 men in connection with the trouble. Less than a month later, an officer with Essex Police – who had been off duty on May 14 – was arrested on suspicion of being among the hooligans.

More arrests followed, including of 16 and 17-year-old boys, one of whom was later killed in a car crash. In October of that year, a number of men appeared in court charged with violent disorder, with two further accused of assaulting the police officers who were kicked and stamped on. Several pleaded guilty the following month but others denied the charges.

Rangers draw United...

On September 3, 2010, and following a trial at Manchester Crown Court, nine men were jailed for between six months and three-and-a-half years and one was given community service and a six-month suspended sentence. An 18-year-old and a 20-year-old were sent to young offenders institutions for 12 and 21 months respectively, All were given multi-year football banning orders. In passing sentence, Judge Andrew Blake condemned what he branded “the worst night of violence and destruction suffered by Manchester city centre since the Blitz”.

Remarkably, just a week earlier, the draw for the group stage of that season’s Champions League had paired Rangers with United, with the two scheduled to play at Old Trafford in their opening game on September 14. The restrictions subsequently imposed for the match were branded “overkill” by the Glasgow club’s supporters. Similar concerns had earlier forced United to abandon plans to invite Rangers to be the opposition for Gary Neville’s testimonial.

The fact Rangers’ September 2010 return led to only 10 arrests for minor offences – and the behaviour of their fans draw praise from police – has undoubtedly helped shape arrangements for this Thursday’s match. As has the stark contrast between the conduct of the club’s supporters in 2008 to that after they reached the final of the same competition in 2022. For their penalty shoot-out defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville, nobody among the estimated 100,000 who travelled to the Andalusian capital were arrested.

Not all precautions have been abandoned for this week’s game amid what Telegraph Sport has been told will be a police operation on a par with that for a Manchester derby. The hosts also snubbed a request by Rangers for more than the 3,768 tickets to which the visitors are officially entitled – although that was said to be down to demand from United’s own fans. On top of that, the Old Trafford club acted to prevent opposition supporters getting hold of tickets in the home end by only selling to those registered as members before the Europa League draw was made.

However, it is those who will watch Thursday’s game on big screens at the likes of ‘The Rangers Fanzone: Manchester Takeover’ at the BEC Arena and the Shack that face the real acid test when it comes to a fanbase that has been given a chance to shake off the stigma of 2008 for good.