Design & Development

Rangers stand revamp stalls after shipment delay

Featured image credit: Lesterhobbes764/CC BY-SA 4.0

Redevelopment work at Scottish Premiership football club Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium has suffered a significant setback after “a delay in a materials shipment from Asia”.

It means the team is unlikely to be able to play at its usual home stadium for the opening weeks of the 2024-25 season, according to multiple reports.

A multi-million-pound renovation project to overhaul the disabled facilities at Ibrox began at the end of the most recent season. Work in the Copland Stand was due to be completed in time for the new season, but the club’s board have accepted that it will not be able to keep to the original timescale.

“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,” read a club statement.

“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.”

Scottish Premiership fixtures are due to be confirmed on June 27 but it is likely that Rangers will have their opening league match away on August 3 or 4 and at home the following weekend.

The team is due to play Manchester United at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh in a friendly on July 20.

The 67,144-seat venue, the biggest in Scotland, is tipped as a potential option as a temporary home for Rangers.

It currently plays host to the Scottish men’s national rugby union team and selected matches of Edinburgh Rugby.