A commemorative tifo honouring Neil Simpson has received public endorsement from Aberdeen, not too long after the tragic challenge on Rangers icon Ian Durrant.
The contentious Neil Simpson tifo will be unveiled by the Aberdeen Fans initiative this afternoon (06/10) at the team’s Scottish Premiership match versus Hearts at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen has also backed this tifo, publicising the contentious choice on their official club social media accounts and inviting Neil Simpson to walk onto the pitch.
Rangers supporters have taken issue with the situation, claiming that the Dons are glamourizing one of the most graphic events in Scottish football history.
Ian Durrant, Aberdeen, tifo coincidence
Although the Scotland midfielder’s career was cut short by three years due to a challenge on him, which Aberdeen fails to address, the tackle’s anniversary falls on the same day.
Ian Durrant, an Aberdeen midfielder, tore the ligaments in his knee on October 8, 1988, after Neil Simpson put up a vicious challenge on the Rangers star.
The incident left an enduring impression on Ian Durrant’s career and is forever recorded in the annals of the Rangers vs. Dons rivalry.
When Durrant returned to the pitch in January 1991, some 30,000 Rangers fans notably showed up for a reserve match. Later that season, the midfielder was the starting point of a historic ‘winner takes all’ league match versus the Dons.
With two goals from Mark Hateley, Rangers defeated the Dons 2-0 to win the club’s third 9IAR championship.
Ian Durrant, who claimed that Neil Simpson’s forceful challenge amounted to a “act of extreme recklessness,” settled for damages in 1993 after taking Neil Simpson to court over it (Independent).
Even after nearly 40 years, the nasty tackle still exacerbates the animosity between Rangers and Aberdeen supporters.
Not to mention, it changed the life and career of one of the best Scottish players of his day.
Rangers need to let Aberdeen know how they feel.
Simpson had a well-established career with Aberdeen, both domestically and internationally, but there are serious doubts within Rangers circles regarding the questionable importance of the timing of the tifo.
The vivid picture of Simpson flying into Durrant’s knee, which is frequently used to incite rage among Rangers supporters, represents the intense animosity that some Dons supporters have for the Ibrox club.
Songs about the tackle are still playing on Aberdeen’s terraces, and some of the northeast club’s supporters are even celebrating the brutal challenge.
It is a slight to supporters’ intelligence for Aberdeen to claim ignorance of the date.
Supporters of the Rangers have called on the Ibrox team to retaliate against this ruling and back Ian Durrant.
Rangers supporters believe that Aberdeen as a football team is being dishonest by either publicly demonstrating their support or by declining to host Aberdeen directors.
It’s difficult to disagree.
Rather than criticising the obvious vulgarity of the challenge, the Dons seem to be encouraging it. It has no place on the terraces or in sport.
We’ll wait for an answer from the Rangers boardroom, which must be incensed that Aberdeen has formally endorsed this and that it has been allowed to continue.
It’s crude at worst and shabby at best, and we fear that any camaraderie that existed in the boardrooms this afternoon may vanish with the revelation of the tifo.
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