Fears over the state of ground improvements at Ibrox have been confirmed with the club announcing that their Copland Road Stand won’t be ready for the start of next season.
Work began after the home match against Dundee on May 14 to provide a new disabled section and increase capacity by 600 as they attempt to close in on the 60,000 capacity of Celtic Park.
Statement FC issued a very vague 115 word statement confirming that their home stadium won’t be ready for the start of the season which could see a Champions League match being played as early as August 6.
Solutions are very thin on the ground with the two most obvious ones ruled out. Hampden Park is being resurfaced after hosting a couple of summer concerts and won’t be ready for use until early September and it seems that the nature of the works at Ibrox involves more than just the Copland Road Stand being out of bounds.
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Cranes are apparently on the pitch with parts of the Govan and Main Stand out of bounds as the timescale for the job rumbles on.
That leaves just two options in Scotland capable oh hosting the 47,000 loyal bears that have bought Season Tickets- Murrayfield and Celtic Park…
The residents of Murrayfield will have to put up with Manchester United hosting a friendly against Phil Clement’s runners-up on July 20, after that experience the Residents Groups are unlikely to welcome back the same fans four times during August.
Which leaves Executive Chairman John Bennett in a bit of a predicament, some fools are bound to suggest the use of Celtic Park to host the mob that twice trashed their city centre in 2021 to celebrate a rare success.
Celtic should have two SPFL Premiership fixtures during August, possibly a Glasgow Derby and the potential for a League Cup tie.
There are spare dates in there but there is zero chance that even the Celtic board will take up the chance of extra revenue from hosting their city rivals who could have five home matches in August.
No Ibrox fans have been inside Celtic Park since they witnessed a 4-0 demolition in September 2022, there are good reasons for not letting 800 into Scotland’s biggest football stadium, 50,000 or more is a complete NO NO.
This afternoon the club announced:
RANGERS has recently been advised of a delay in a materials shipment from Asia which is likely to have an impact on the programme for the completion of the Copland Stand works.
It is therefore expected, unfortunately, that there will be an impact on matches at Ibrox at the beginning of the 2024/25 competitive season.
The club has engaged with the SPFL and UEFA in order to review planned contingency arrangements. Naturally, everyone at Rangers is deeply disappointed with this news.
The club is working intensively to ensure that all steps are taken to deliver the project at the earliest possible date and a further progress update will be issued to supporters in due course.
There is very little detail to that statement and crucially no timescale on when it will be completed. There is no explanation why Asian materials have been chosen over the Best of British.
On January 4 they had announced:
FOLLOWING a significant period of consultation with supporters and numerous stakeholders, Rangers FC can now announce new seating arrangements within Ibrox Stadium effective from season 2024/25.
As has been the club’s long-term ambition, a number of new accessible viewing positions are to be added to the rear of the Copland Front, increasing our overall wheelchair-accessible spaces to 153 – the highest of any stadium in the Scottish Premiership.
Additionally, following trials earlier in the season and further to supporter and men’s first-team player feedback, the club will introduce an expanded singing section within the Copland Front.
The Ibrox atmosphere is renowned the world over, and the club are committed to enhancing that even further to ensure our famous home remains one of football’s most iconic venues.
Allied to these changes, a new cantilever will be constructed at the front of the Copland Rear with almost 1000 new seats, meaning a net-capacity increase of almost 600, with these new seats having some of the best views of the Ibrox pitch.
Alas those 600 new seats are unlikely to see a bears bottom until September at the earliest, the statement is very vague with contractors now able to hold the club to ransom as they race against the clock.
Playing matches in front of crowds of around 35,000 would be very costly with even the Gullible & Deluded looking for refunds rather than bonus MyGers points.
Starting the SPFL season with a run of five or six away matches would be a nightmare for the Clement Revolution with massive pressure on the former Monaco boss to deliver Champions Leave football- now without the backing of Fortress Ibrox spewing out their anthems of hate and intolerance.
CLICK HERE for Keevins performs incredible u-turn on Rodgers as he accuses Celtic fans.
CLICK HERE for Santa Ponsa celebrates Celtic’s victory in the Glasgow Derby.
