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Ibrox Stadium upgrade delays set to cause early-season uncertainty

Written by Will Murray
Last Update: August 28, 2024
Published on

The upgrades to Ibrox Stadium have been delayed due to “a delay in a materials shipment from Asia”. Work on the Copland Stand was scheduled to begin earlier this summer, but the delay has forced Rangers to play their opening home domestic and European matches away from Ibrox at the start of the 2024/25 season.

Ibrox Stadium delays cause early season issues

In a club statement on June 20, Rangers said: “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.”

The delay to the scheduled works on the Copland Stand meant that Rangers didn't play any games at Ibrox in August. Hampden Park was selected as the venue of choice while the works continued and Phillipe Clement’s team faced Motherwell and Ross County in the first month of the 2024/25 season, winning 2-1 and 2-0, respectively.

As well as this, they lost a two-legged Champions League third qualifying round tie against Dynamo Kyiv, including a 2-0 defeat at Scotland's national stadium.

Ibrox Stadium
Rangers finished eight points behind their rivals Celtic in the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership table – Photo by Icon Sport

Doncaster reacts to Ibrox delay – June 2024 update

Speaking to Sky Sports News in June, Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “Unfortunately these things do happen. I used to run a club and we had to build a stand and worked very closely with the league to ensure our fixtures went ahead with only three parts of the ground available.

“Now the fixtures are out, we will be liaising with Rangers. Obviously they have a far better handle on the works than we do.

“We will be doing our best to work with them to try to get them through what is clearly a difficult situation.

“I have been very impressed with the way that the new chairman, John Bennett, has tried to strengthen relationships across the game and we will certainly be looking to work with him and his team to be as flexible as we can be whilst being fair to everyone else.”

August 2024 update 

So far, Rangers have played four home fixtures at Hampden, including Saturday's 6-0 victory against Ross County. There remains uncertainty concerning when the club will return to Ibrox, but the hierarchy are hopeful that they will play their first home match at Ibrox in the 2024/25 campaign in late September.


Clement was asked about the “possibility” of Rangers returning to Ibrox earlier than the planned date of 28 September, when Hibernian are the away team. The Glasgow club play Dundee in the Scottish Cup a week before the league game against Hibernian. Clement said: “there's a possibility but not a certainty”, that they will play the match against Dundee at Ibrox, which is their first home game after the September international break.

He added: “All the club has been pushing to make sure this transition period is as short as possible – that we could go back to Ibrox as quick as possible – and they are still doing.”

Brendan Rodgers' Celtic are currently two points clear of their Glasgow rivals after three games. The first Old Firm Derby of the season is set to take place on Sunday, 1 September. It is worth noting that there will be no Rangers fans at Celtic Park due to an ongoing issue around fan safety.