Rob Kiernan 'needed security protection' from own fans in Ibrox incident

Rob Kiernan 'needed security protection' after getting a string of verbal abuse while making his way to the player's lounge at Ibrox on Saturday, according to the Scottish Sun.

Kiernan wasn't playing in the game, although fans were quite understandably raging over his pathetic display at Tynecastle. It appears that one or two may have overstepped the mark.

Although some terms like "hate mob" have been bandied about, there's no suggestion that any of the abuse was sectarian in nature. Kiernan was apparently 'shaken' by the incident and will speak to Warburton about it when the squad return.

Kiernan, of course, has been pretty shite this season, and were it not for his replacement likely being Philippe Senderos, for some reason, it's hard to imagine too many tears being shed if he never pulled on a Rangers shirt again. Sadly, the rumour linking him to Fulham was probably not a goer. Our fans, particularly at Ibrox, are also not known for their patience and are not great believers in the "get behind them and support the team" school of thought.

Nonetheless, it goes without saying that nobody deserves to be in a situation where stewards have to step in, just for being in poor form. It's not as if he's trying to sign for Celtic or has been deliberately scoring own-goals in some nefarious papist plot. He's still a Rangers player and is likely to be playing plenty more until the end of the season, so all of this is pretty bad stuff.

Did you witness the incident? Let us know in the comments if so.