Cheeky Ayr Gers fan poses as disabled to watch Uefa final

May 21 2008 By Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post

A COCKY football fan hired a wheelchair and posed as disabled so that he could watch his team bid for Euro glory.

Hughie McRobert rolled up to the Uefa Cup final to cheer on his beloved Rangers.

And he watched from the best seats in the house after security chiefs in Manchester failed to rumble him.

Hughie, from Ayr, revealed: “I was just terrified we’d score — I’d have leapt from the chair and been lynched.”

The bizarre scheme was launched when Hughie met a fellow Gers fan with two tickets for the disabled area.

The fan had been ripped off by an internet scam after buying the briefs in good faith, thinking they were seats in the Rangers end of the ground.

Hughie explained: “This guy had opened the tickets to discover they were for the disabled zone, so they were useless to him.

“But when he told me the story, a light went off in my head. I decided to get a wheelchair for myself and use him as my minder — that way we’d both get in.

“It was easy to do. I put down a £100 deposit for a chair at this place in Stockport and headed for the ground.

“When I got within 200 yards of the stadium I decided I should get in the chair and make it look realistic. People were clearing a path for me — it was unbelievable.”

Hughie, a painter and decorator, joined his new buddy in the disabled zone to watch the game, which Rangers lost 2-0 to Russian side Zenit St Petersburg.

And Hughie was left lodged down a pothole after the match as his lightweight ‘minder’ struggled to push the wheelchair.

Hughie, 52, admitted: “It was pretty embarrassing and I wanted to stand up and walk away but four strangers came out of nowhere and offered to help lift me and my chair out of the pothole. So I just had to sit there and let them do it.

“Eventually I was able to get out of the seat but I was left pushing an empty wheelchair around Manchester for the night. I think people thought I’d lost someone.

“I returned it the next morning and even got my £100 deposit back as well.”

And despite Hughie admitting his cheeky stunt, he says that he’d do the same again because the tickets were only going to waste.

He explained: "The guy I met had bought them through the internet and been tricked. He wasn't going to use the tickets because he didn't know anyone disabled.

"It was only when I had the wheelchair idea that we were both able to make use of them. We hadn't intentionally bought disabled seats.

"And despite the result, the atmosphere was absolutely superb and I had a great night."