Rangers FC completed their pre-season preparations with their fourth and final friendly match of the summer on 27th July, and will now turn their focus toward the first match of the Scottish Premiership season away against Heart of Midlothian on 3rd August.
The summer transfer window has brought a flurry of activity with eight new arrivals and eight departures so far as manager Philippe Clement reshapes his squad on a shoestring budget. Results on the pitch have been underwhelming, to say the least, but perhaps also encouraging given the strength of opposition we have faced.
6th July
Our pre-season began in Milngavie against Hamilton Academical, where we won 5-2 in the behind-closed-doors friendly.
Goalscorers: McCausland, Dessers, McKinnon, Wright, Cantwell
10th July
From there, we travelled to the Netherlands, and played against Belgian side Standard Liège in Venlo. The match ended in a 0-0 draw.
First-Half Team: Butland, King, Souttar, Davies, Ridvan, Diomande, Barron, Lawrence, McCausland, Dessers, Cortes (Fraser, 30)
Second-Half Team: Butland, Balogun, Goldson, Nsiala, Jefté, Raskin, McKinnon, Dowell, Wright, Curtis (Lowry, 75), Fraser (Matondo, 60)
13th July
The second match of our pre-season training camp in the Netherlands was played in Wezep against Ajax Amsterdam, with the Dutch side winning 2-1.
Tom Lawrence scored our only goal with a beautifully taken free-kick.
Line-Up: Butland (Kelly, 46), Sterling (Devine, 60), Goldson (Souttar, 60), Davies (Balogun, 60), Jefté (Ridvan, 60), Diomande (McKinnon, 60), Raskin (Barron, 43), Dowell (Fraser, 60, (Danilo, 76), Matondo (Wright, 46) Lawrence (McCausland, 60), Dessers (Lowry, 60).
20th July
One week later, we returned home to play Manchester United at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, and lost 0-2 to the English FA Cup winners.
Line-Up: Butland, Sterling (King, 75), Souttar (Goldon, 75), Davies (Balogun, 75) Jefté (Ridvan, 75) Diomande (McKinnnon, 75) Barron (Dowell, 75) Lawrence (Lowry, 75) Wright (McCausland, 75) Cortes (Matondo, 46), Dessers (Danilo, 75)
24th July
We travelled to Birmingham, England to play against Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s, and lost our third consecutive match of the pre-season 1-2.
Our only goal was scored by Scott Wright in the 68th minute, in a match played to celebrate the career of Trevor Francis—a former Gers player regarded as one of the best to ever play for Birmingham City, and who passed away on the same date one year earlier, in 2023.
27th July
For our final pre-season friendly, we played Union Berlin at Stadion An der Alten Försterei in Berlin, Germany. Cyriel Dessers and Tom Lawrence scored two goals each in an entertaining 4-4 draw.
Line-Up: Butland, Tavernier (King, 60), Souttar, Davies (Balogun, 80), Jefté (Ridvan, 71), Diomande, Barron, Lawrence (McCausland, 71), Wright, Cortes (Matondo, 60), Dessers (Danilo, 80).
Under-17 and Under-15 sides from Rangers Academy also participated in the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament , where the Under-17s won the SCNI Vase Trophy on 26th July.