Falkirk Football Club has unveiled a 40-foot replica of the Rangers team bus, constructed entirely from scaffolding and painted tarpaulin, on the pitch at the Falkirk Stadium. The club's management confirmed that the replica, which took ground staff three days to assemble, is intended for one purpose only: rehearsing the parking of the actual Rangers bus ahead of Saturday's match.
«We have studied the footage, we have measured the real bus from the car park at Ibrox, and we believe that if we can block it in properly, Rangers may never reach the dressing room,» said grounds manager Alan Duncanson, standing beside the mock vehicle. The replica includes a painted driver, a cardboard steering wheel, and a sign reading «Rangers FC» in blue letters, which the club says was «sourced from a very detailed photograph.»
Training sessions this week have seen the Falkirk squad practice forming a human chain around the replica, with players instructed to link arms and sway gently to discourage any attempt to move the bus. Manager John McGlynn has reportedly added a new drill where the team practices asking the driver, in a polite but firm tone, to «please reverse into the space marked 'Reserved for Officials.'»
The replica has already drawn criticism from Rangers supporters, who have threatened to bring their own bus to the match and park it in front of Falkirk's replica, creating a standoff. Falkirk responded by announcing plans to build a second, smaller replica of the Rangers bus to park behind the first, «just in case.» The club has also ordered 200 traffic cones, which will be placed around the real bus on match day, «to make the point that we are serious about parking.»