JOHN GILLIGAN has urged Ibrox fans to ditch the pyros after Rangers were hit with a whopping £28,000 fine.
Gers avoided a partial stadium closure after supporters left off fireworks INSIDE the ground during their 4-1 Europa League defeat to Lyon.
But the interim Light Blues chairman has warned of tougher Uefa sanctions IF those scenes are repeated.
Gilligan revealed: “After a fantastic result in Malmo, we were all disappointed with the Europa League result against Lyon, but I was proud to see the supporters staying with Philippe and the team until the final whistle.
“The biggest disappointment of that evening, however, was the actions of a small minority of supporters, whose use of pyrotechnics at the match has seen the club fined €13,750 by UEFA.
“This is in addition to a €19,000 fine for a similar incident in the match with Malmo.
“My message is the use of pyrotechnics must stop and stop now at all of our matches home and away.
“Not only could the repercussions become ever-larger for the club, many supporters have difficulty coping with the effects of pyrotechnics, whether that be the smoke or loud bangs they produce.
“It is desperately unfair for any Rangers supporter to come to a match and be affected in such a manner.”
Gilligan – who is continuing the club’s search for a chairman and chief executive – also confirmed the departure of Creag Robertson.
SunSport revealed last week the club’s director of football operations would leave his post before the end of the year.
Gilligan said: “I can confirm Director of Football Operations Creag Robertson will leave in the coming weeks to pursue new opportunities.
“We must thank Creag for his contribution in several roles since he joined the club in 2016 and we wish him well in his future endeavours.
“With Creag moving on, I have seen some reports of the club being without leadership.
“I can assure you that is not the case with George Letham and myself, who have deep knowledge of business and our great club, working tirelessly alongside our executive management team to continue to drive the club forward.
“Nils Koppen, our Director of Football Recruitment, highlighted in an interview last week that planning for the January transfer window is well underway.
“On the commercial front, Karim Virani and his team have delivered an outstanding new front of shirt sponsorship deal with the Kindred group, while we have been really pleased with the work done in such a short space of time, by Elior on the catering front.
“The financial uplift in both deals, together with the strong financial oversight and controls actioned by CFO, James Taylor will positively benefit the club going forward.
“Of course, we are determined to fill the Chairman and CEO roles as quickly as possible, and our recruitment consultants have already produced short lists of very strong and experienced candidates for both roles.
“While that is ongoing, our absolute priority is to support Philippe in any way we can to ensure the men’s first-team can continue to build upon the progress we have seen from them in recent weeks.
“We must thank Philippe for standing tall during these difficult months and for dealing with non-football matters on the club’s behalf.”
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