Almost 10 years after Dave King and his partners swept into office at Rangers and still millions are being spent to bring the club’s facilities up to scratch.
With a waiting list well into five figures for season tickets, it is going to be a long-term programme to redevelop Ibrox and make it a stadium that can help close the financial gap on Celtic.
After years of repairing the famous old ground, recent seasons has seen work start to upgrade Ibrox and this summer, it is the turn of the Copland Road stand with a progress report from one Rangers fan showing the fast start that has been made already.
Ibrox update sees Rangers board proven to be true to their word
The work, ahead of the Union Bears move across the pitch, sees the disabled facilities greatly improve as well as an increased number of seats being installed via a cantilever design.
This design will be replicated in the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine stands and will add a significant number of seats over the next few years taking the capacity up close to the 55,000 mark.
Speaking earlier this season, departing CEO James Bisgrove revealed that the board isn’t just paying lip service to making Rangers facilities the best in class:
“Plans to further enhance both the Rangers Training Centre and Ibrox, by way of stadium expansion and upgrades to facilities, remain high on our agenda, and we look forward to detailing further plans in the near future.
“It was very pleasing to welcome England to our training ground ahead of their recent match with Scotland. For them to recognise the Rangers Training Centre as the preferred location to prepare for a match they evidently took very seriously is a massive compliment to us as a club.
“The current board and investors have provided significant funds to ensure what was already the best training facility in the country was taken to a whole new level.”
Have a look at how the improvements are coming along:
What’s next for Ibrox stadium plans?
It’s a start.
There are various projects being considered to take Ibrox even further towards 60,000 seats with the two main considerations being filling in the corners between the Sandy Jardine, Broomloan and Copland and lowering the pitch.
Lowering the pitch has seen a bit of misinformation with nobody really sure whether or not it is totally viable due to the level of the water table and proximity to the Clyde river.
Filling the corners seems like the most obvious solution, however, this wouldn’t come cheap and would take a lot longer than a summer to complete.
Rangers are coping this summer by playing pre-season friendlies away from home, however, larger scale work would require a move to somewhere like Hampden on a temporary basis.
It might not be as glamorous as a new striker but, like New Edmiston House, it is money that needs to be spent if Rangers are going to have the sustainable resources needed to return to a dominant position in Scottish football.
