Gers prepare for Final invasion

Italian police praised Rangers fans for their conduct in Florence

Tens of thousands of Rangers fans are making plans to travel down the M6 to Manchester for the UEFA Cup final.

Tourism chiefs said they expected up to 70,000 supporters of the Ibrox club to descend on the city for their first European final in 36 years.

Rangers clinched their place after a nail biting penalty shootout victory over Fiorentina on Thursday.

Fans who travelled to Florence for the semi-final were praised for their "outstanding" behaviour by police.

The Glasgow side are to be allocated just 13,000 tickets for the final against Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg, which will be played in front of 44,000 fans at the City of Manchester stadium on 14 May.

There has always been a good relationship between the north west of England and Scotland Paul Simpson Visit Manchester

A public sale of tickets by football governing body UEFA ended on 16 March.

The coveted tickets are already attracting bids of £1,500 on internet auction website eBay from Rangers supporters desperate to see their heroes in the final.

Paul Simpson, of tourism body Visit Manchester, urged fans without tickets not to travel, but acknowledged the city was bracing itself for a unprecedented invasion of supporters.

He said: "Clearly there are going to be substantially more Rangers fans than Zenit fans.

"Manchester is used to hosting large sporting events like the Commonwealth Games and a few years ago we had the Champion's League final between two Italian teams, AC Milan and Juventus, and that went very well indeed.

"We could be having 60,000 or 70,000 Rangers fans coming down and they are very, very welcome, but we would urge them to only come if they have a ticket."

Mr Simpson said that hotel accommodation in the city centre had been fully booked for several weeks, and admitted the city council was taking a "cautious" approach to planning special fan zones in a bid to prevent ticketless fans travelling.

But he dismissed any fears of trouble between the thousands of visiting Scottish fans and locals.

'Carnival atmosphere'

He said: "Manchester always welcome Scottish fans anyway, there has always been a good relationship between the north west of England and Scotland, Manchester and Glasgow.

"I don't think there is any particular problem with the locals accepting the Scots coming down here."

Ch Supt Gerry Donnellan, of Greater Manchester Police, said he was confident the city would be able to cope with hosting the event.

He said: "Our planning is underpinned by a desire for all fans with tickets to come to Manchester to enjoy the atmosphere and the game - they will get a genuine warm reception.

"I hope the match will be an enjoyable event for everyone who attends and that a carnival atmosphere will be created by the genuine supporters, which will demonstrate all that is good about the game in the United Kingdom."

We want to make it Magic Manchester and show the world what a wonderful support the Rangers fans are Jim Templeton Rangers Supporters Assembly

Colin Glass, former chairman of the Rangers Supporters Trust, said: "We can only hope Zenit do not use all their allocation and more Rangers fans can get their hands on them.

"I would expect this match to attract the biggest travelling support ever seen for a British team, even eclipsing the supposed 80,000 Celtic fans that travelled to Seville a few years back.

"I've even had friends from Florida on the phone saying they're booked up to come over even though they don't have tickets. Rangers fans from all over the world just want to be in Manchester on the night."

Jim Templeton, President of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, said: "This is a momentous time for the club and the thousands of fans who will want to go to Manchester.

"We will be going in our thousands but with the ambition of supporting the team and having the greatest party ever."