Six kicked off, a medical emergency and smoking passengers on one Ryanair flight
A Rangers fan was booted off a Ryanair flight heading to Portugal.
Footage shared online shows the passenger, wearing a colourful sombrero and Rangers FC shirt, being escorted off the plane before it had even taken off from Manchester Airport on Monday.
He can then be seen pleading with a police officer on the tarmac to let him back on before holding his head in his hands as he is turned away.
Five more unruly travellers were removed when the pilot was forced to divert to Nantes in France after just an hour in the air.
A sixth passenger fell ill and needed medical attention on the delayed flight but did not require any further treatment when it eventually touched down in Faro.
Tens of thousands of Rangers fans with or without tickets are expected in Seville to watch their side take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final on Wednesday.
Former Ibrox players including Graeme Souness, Richard Gough and Ian Durrant have appeared in videos on the club’s social media channels urging supporters not to let the club down when they are in Spain.
The previous two European finals involving Rangers have been marred by violent scenes.
Rangers were banned from European competition for a year after fans clashed with Spanish police on the Nou Camp pitch at the end of their 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup final victory over Dynamo Moscow.
There were violent scenes in Manchester city centre in 2008 after an estimated 200,000 fans travelled south ahead of Rangers’ UEFA Cup final defeat by Zenit St Petersburg.
Thirty-nine police officers were injured during the trouble and a Crown Court judge later described it as ‘the worst night of violence and destruction suffered by Manchester city centre since the blitz’.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said on Tuesday: ‘A small number of disruptive passengers were removed from this Manchester to Faro flight (16 May).
‘One passenger was removed prior to departure, and following a diversion to Nantes, a further five disruptive passengers were removed and met by police on arrival.
‘Separately, another passenger who required medical attention onboard quickly recovered, did not require further medical attention, and continued to Faro.
‘Following a short delay of approximately one hour and 15mins in Nantes, this flight continued to Faro where it landed safely at 10.04pm.
‘Ryanair apologises sincerely to passengers for the inconvenience caused by this delay.’
The FR9130 flight from Manchester to Faro was due to take off at 4.25pm and land at 7.05pm.
However, following delays, passengers didn’t arrive at their destination until 10.04pm.
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