One of those football fan stories that would make you lose faith in humanity reared it's head over the weekend as after Rangers secured an impressive preseason win away to Sheffield Wednesday Sunday, some of the supporters that travelled down from Glasgow made a show of themselves.
77-year-old John Burkhill, a man who has dedicated his life to raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support since he lost his wife years ago, was harassed and abused for wearing green, the colours of Macmillian and also, unfortunately for John, Celtic.
Speaking to TheStar.co.uk on Monday, John gave his account of what had happened and was adamant that he would not let it deter him from collecting in the future.
I can't say it was all of them, it wasn't, and there was one young fan who actually came over to me to apologise for the behaviour of those involved. But I can say I have never known anything like it in all the years I have been collecting.
I stand outside Hillsborough and outside Bramall Lane when Sheffield United are at home on every single match day and I won't let this stop me. It was not good at the time and I learned some swear words I had never heard before - and all because I was wearing green like Celtic do. I took a lot of abuse but I stood my ground and didn't let them stop me doing what I was there to do - to raise money for Macmillan - because it is too important to me.
Fair play to him, but there was absolutely no need for that behaviour and to give a man raising money for charity like John was doing a rough time is deplorable.
Thankfully, many Rangers fans feel the same way, as after learning of what had happened to John, a number of supporters with Club 1872 banded together to raise money for him, and issued an apology.
On Sunday, Rangers were playing in Sheffield and despite the overwhelming majority of our support behaving brilliantly, we have become aware of reports that a few supporters behaved inappropriately towards John Burkhill who was collecting for MacMillan Cancer Support.
We would like to apologise to John and to help with his fund raising efforts. Let's show him that Rangers supporters are the best in the world and not have our good name and a brilliant day in Sheffield tarnished by the actions of a few.
At the time of writing, over £1600 have been raised which is a lovely gesture, it's just a real shame that action had to be taken in the first place.
Good to see fans that do have a heart/brain making amends for the actions of those who clearly don't.
You can check out the YouCaring page for John right here and donate if you would like to support it.
