A column of Rangers supporters set off from Ibrox on Friday evening walking backwards towards Dens Park, and by Saturday morning had covered the distance to Dundee without once turning to face the road ahead, arriving nine hours before kick-off and refusing to rotate.
The march, organised by a supporters' group calling itself the Reverse Advance, was described by its stewards as a psychological operation aimed at Derek McInnes and his Dundee players. «We believe a team that sees a wall of backs approaching its stadium loses the sense of who is coming,» said march marshal Douglas Pringle, speaking over his shoulder. «The lads have not looked at Dundee since Perth. Some of them have not looked at anything since Stirling.»
Dens Park stewards were forced to open a second turnstile and then a third to admit men walking in the wrong direction, several of whom attempted to enter the stand rear-first and had to be guided by the shoulders. Police Scotland closed one lane of the road to let the column pass and reported no arrests, only a great deal of slow reversing.
By mid-morning the pavements around the ground were lined with supporters still facing Glasgow, and a queue for pies had formed in which nobody could see the counter. Club staff handed out mirrors so the marchers could watch the match, and the away end is expected to spend the ninety minutes watching the game in reflection while continuing to walk backwards on the spot.
McInnes, asked about the summit of the table, said his players had been told to ignore the noise and look forward, which the visiting support took as a personal insult.