Tomorrow sees the SPFL fixtures announced, with Rangers set for another away trip to open the league season following Celtic’s title win last year. It is imperative that this time next year, we begin at home with the league flag back where it belongs: at Ibrox.
Last year’s opening fixture, away to Hearts at Tynecastle, served as an early warning for what would become a disappointing campaign. A 0-0 draw with the Edinburgh side exposed the disaster that was our summer 2024 transfer window.
Connor Barron was the only new arrival in the starting XI, while Ben Davies and Scott Wright - both soon to depart for Birmingham City - also featured. The football was slow, pedestrian, and Cyriel Dessers squandered multiple chances.
The first signs of trouble for Philippe Clement, already visible at the end of the previous season, became clearer that day in the capital.
Our last opening day victory came in July 2022, when Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Rangers side, fresh off a Scottish Cup triumph and a UEFA Europa League final appearance, edged past David Martindale’s Livingston 2-1 at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Our last commanding performance on day one came under Steven Gerrard, in our most recent home opener. Once again, Livingston were the opposition and were swept aside 3-0 at Ibrox with goals from Scott Wright, Ianis Hagi and Kemar Roofe.
The champions returned to action in front of 23,000 at Ibrox in a post-COVID atmosphere filled with expectation. The year before, Ryan Kent had secured a 1-0 win away to Aberdeen to kick off the march to title number 55.
But is a winning start essential to a successful season? At Inside Ibrox, we look back at some of the best and worst opening days of the modern era to assess whether day-one results truly shape the campaign that follows.
Good – Rangers 4-1 Falkirk (15 August 2009)
Rangers raised the league flag for the first time in four years against the Bairns after winning the title on the final day at Tannadice. Walter Smith and his side were under financial pressure, with only Jérôme Rothen arriving on loan from Paris Saint-Germain that summer.
It mattered little. A Kenny Miller double, a Lee McCulloch thunderbolt and a Steven Naismith strike cancelled out Carl Finnigan’s first-half equaliser.
Rangers launched into an 11-match unbeaten run that season and had the title wrapped up by April, clinching it as Kyle Lafferty scored against Hibs, as Celtic floundered under Tony Mowbray. The standard was set early, but that is not always the story.
Bad – Rangers 1-1 Hamilton (6 August 2016)
Back in the top flight after four years, Mark Warburton’s Rangers entered the season full of hope. A banner in the Sandy Jardine Stand read 'Going for 55', and expectations were high.
New signings Clint Hill, Nico Kranjcar and Joey Barton joined a squad that had reached the Scottish Cup final and famously beaten Celtic along the way. But the bubble burst quickly. Ali Crawford opened the scoring for Accies and silenced the Ibrox crowd.
Martyn Waghorn equalised on his return from injury, but even with starlet Jordan Rossiter and big money January signing Michael O’Halloran off the bench, Rangers could not find a winner.
The match set the tone for a frustrating campaign. Goals were hard to come by, the defence was leaky, and Warburton was gone by February. A third-place finish capped off a disappointing return to the Premiership.
Good – Rangers 3-0 Livingston (31 July 2005)
Alex McLeish’s Rangers opened the campaign under blue skies at Ibrox after the magic of Helicopter Sunday. Despite losing players like Shota Arveladze and Michael Ball, the core of the title-winning squad remained intact.
New arrivals José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan and Ian Murray both started as Rangers dominated. Pierre-Fanfan marked his debut with a goal, while Dado Pršo and Peter Løvenkrands also found the net in a commanding 3-0 win.
Despite the promising start and a victory at Inverness in the second match, momentum quickly faded. After drawing at Pittodrie, Rangers entered a miserable run with just three wins in their next 13 games. An early win over Celtic proved to be the high point.
The team reached the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, becoming the first Scottish club to do so, but domestically they finished a distant third. McLeish left at the end of the season.
Bad – Hearts 2-1 Rangers (1 August 1998)
The summer of 1998 brought one of the most dramatic rebuilds in club history. Over £35 million was spent as Dick Advocaat replaced Smith following the failed ten-in-a-row bid.
The new-look side featured Sergio Porrini, Arthur Numan, Rod Wallace and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, alongside familiar names like Gordon Durie, Jörg Albertz, Barry Ferguson and a young Gennaro Gattuso. Despite the talent, Rangers fell to early goals from Stéphane Adam and Jim Hamilton at Tynecastle.
Wallace scored on his debut, but it was a mere consolation. Defensively shaky but attacking with promise, the team clicked into gear as the season progressed. Rangers went on to win a domestic treble, dropping just four more games and clinching the title at Parkhead in May.
The opening day defeat proved to be nothing more than early turbulence. The new squad quickly gelled and delivered one of the most successful seasons in the club’s modern history.
With a similar overhaul expected under new manager Russell Martin this summer, fans must prepare for some growing pains. New players, new systems and a fresh direction will take time to bed in. Not every early result will go our way.
But history shows us that a rough start does not mean failure.
We are Rangers. We rise when others fall. Be patient, stay united and never lose sight of where we are going. The road back to the top starts now.