Due to the incompetence of John Bennett and James Bisgrove the SPFL will be publishing fixtures this morning for Phil Clement and his squad knowing that they have no home stadium. The basics of a fit and proper stadium.
That is the club that refused to take part in the Cinch sponsorship deal forcing the car sale firm into an early termination. Bisgrove still sits on the SPFL Board despite quitting Ibrox for a bigger pay day.
Neil Doncaster has overseen many shambles during his 14 years in Scottish football, presenting Premiership football without Ibrox will very publicly show up the limitations of the former Norwich chief, no sanctions, as usual, will be applied against the Ibrox club.
While other clubs have been preparing their stadium and pitch for the new season it seems that at Ibrox those issues have been neglected for another spending spree with Phil Clement signing up a future Real Madrid star in Jefte while offering Connor Barron more money than Aberdeen.
After sitting on the news for three weeks last Thursday a brief club statement revealed that Ibrox wouldn’t be ready for the start of the new season, crucially no timeline has been given on when the construction work on the Copland Road Stand will be ready.
It seems that playing home matches with one stand closed isn’t an option.
Ahead of the fixture announcement The Rangers Review claims:
Boss Philippe Clement faces a treacherous start to his title challenge as Rangers seek an alternative venue for their ‘home’ fixtures in the 2024/25 campaign and lose the benefit of the Ibrox factor domestically and in Europe. Rangers could face nine matches in August if they progress through the third qualifying round in the Champions League and are handed a home tie in the League Cup.
But it is understood that no solution has yet been finalised as Rangers work through contingency plans that are likely to see them play outside of Glasgow during the first weeks of the term. Supporters reacted with fury at the news they will not be able to take their seats at Ibrox and are still in the dark on the eve of the fixture schedule being released by the SPFL on Thursday morning.
Rangers will not receive the full fixture list until shortly before the matches are made public by the League. As a result, more formal discussions around switches or alternative venues have yet to be held. Rangers will hold further talks with alternative venues and the SPFL as a matter of urgency, and will also have to keep UEFA updated on the situation ahead of the draw for their first tie in the coming weeks.
With a new pitch being laid at Hampden it seems that Murrayfield is the only option for Clement’s side to play their home matches at. A very costly exercise which does offer 16,000 extra seats but is a 100 mile and three hour round trip extra for Season Ticket holders to take on.
Suggestions were made that fixtures could be reversed to assist the Ibrox club but having ruined the Cinch deal, slaughtered Dundee’s unprofessional attitude to pitch maintenance and taken Barron from Aberdeen goodwill is thin on the ground for the Ibrox Tribute Act.
Even traditionally friendly clubs would face a backlash from fans if they were seen helping out Clement by taking on an extra home match due to the incompetence of the 20/21 SPFL title winners.
Since last week’s announcement there has been a lack of detail from Ibrox to accompany the sympathetic media coverage, with the fixtures announced at 9am it will become much harder to deflect away from the very costly failings of the Ibrox cluB.
Reversing last season’s fixtures Clement’s side are expected to be away to Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs in the first round of fixtures with four Premiership matches before the first international break at the start of September.
CLICK HERE for the closure statement.
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