Rangers are set to shelve plans for further Ibrox upgrade works next summer in the wake of this year’s construction cock-up on the Copland Road end.
Gers had to spend the first month of the season playing at Hampden after a delayed steel shipment from China forced a multi-million pound project to improve facilities for disabled fans to be put on hold. Boss Philippe Clement and his side are now back at their spiritual home having hosted Motherwell, Dynamo Kyiv, St Johnstone and Ross County at the National Stadium.
But under plans announced in May last year, a second phase of works was due to be carried out on the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine stands next summer that would have increased the stadium’s capacity beyond the 51500 mark, while also freeing up space for 270 disabled fans. That, however, is now looking majorly unlikely.
Record Sport understands senior Gers figures would prefer to use the club’s scarce resources on upgrading Clement’s squad. And even if there was an appetite to push ahead with stadium improvements, it’s emerged that Clement’s squad would likely have to decamp back to Hampden for a second temporary stay – regardless of whether all required materials arrived on time.
That revelation was made by interim chairman John Gilligan during a recent sit down with supporter representatives. Minutes of the meeting show the chairman telling the club’s Fan Advisory Board that “significant lessons had been learned” while admitting “the scale of the project was immense”.
But he confessed that any future upgrade works of a similar level would require Gers chiefs to draw up a “plan for a period without use of the stadium”. Asked if this summer’s works would have run on time had the Asian steel arrived on schedule, Gilligan was forced to admit it would have been unlikely.
All that flies in the face of the assurances former chairman John Bennett received from James Bisgrove, the former CEO in charge of the project before he stunned his Ibrox bosses by quitting to take up a new gig in Saudi Arabia. When quizzed on the plans for the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine Stands, Gilligan stated “any future works would be carefully considered” but insisted “next season must begin at Ibrox”.
Gilligan – a key player during Dave King’s Ibrox take over back in 2015 – returned to replace Bennett after the strain of the club’s shambolic summer took a toll on his health. Along with investor George Letham, he is now running the day-to-day operations at Ibrox while leading the search for a new chairman and CEO.
Updating the supporter board on that process, he confirmed that a key requirement for Bennett’s replacement is that the new chairman must be based in Scotland.
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