Fashion Sense

 It's been quite the pre-season for the Rangers so far. The launch of 2 new strips to mixed reviews, fans being allowed back into the stadium, some good pre-season friendly games, and some exciting-looking signings.

Summer Business

The club went into the pre-season with the majority of their summer business wrapped up already. Jack Simpson and Scott Wright linked up with the squad in January after signing pre-contract agreements and their clubs allowing them to move on early, Nnamdi Ofoborh was agreed in January also and then Fashion Sakala Jnr penned a pre-contract in May. 

A few weeks ago Rangers added John Lundstram to their ranks in what is seen as a massive coup for Rangers and can undeniably be put down to the fantastic, worldwide reputation and pull of the manager Steven Gerrard. What English midfielder wouldn't love to have the opportunity to work with a genuine icon of the game?

With Scott Wright looking every inch the Rangers player from the moment he came in and Lundstram looking like he will also hit the ground running they look to be fantastic pieces of business, but it's Fashion Sakala Jnr that I'm sure will attract the most attention of the fans, especially after today's display against Real Madrid. 

A fairly unknown player when first linked with us in 2020 you'd be forgiven for dismissing it as tabloid talk, but once it became clear he was a real target the fans started to pay a bit more attention. A fast and powerful player who can play across the front three but appears to have played the majority of his games as a center-forward (going by transfermarkt). He hit a bit of a purple patch in the January/February time with 5 goals in 4 games, including a goal against Royal Antwerp and a double against Standard Liege, teams we know well from our Europa League run. He finished his season with a double in his final match for KV Oostende.

He's spent most of his time since talking up Rangers in interviews and basically putting in the right PR work to get the fans on board, but talk is cheap and the Rangers fans will want to see the effort on the pitch. Well if his first start, against Real Madrid tonight, is anything to go by then we're in for a treat. He looks pacy, he looks dynamic, and looks like he's going to give opposition defenders a handful.

After his goal, I even jokingly messaged some mates "Alfie who?", I don't quite mean that, but I certainly feel more comfortable should he leave than I was before.

Simpson and Ofoborh are both clearly project players and from what we've seen of Simpson he's got a wee bit to go yet. Unfortunately Ofoborh has had a heart condition show up on a medical check last week, hopefully, he recovers soon.

I don't expect to see many more names come in the door, probably a CM, but imagine there will be a couple of outgoings. Either way, Ross Wilson and the team appear to have done some fantastic business ahead of the new season without having to break the bank.

Castore

It wouldn't be Rangers these days it seems without some Castore controversy. 

This summer has seen them become providers with both Newcastle United and Wolves of the English Premier League, both deals bringing with them their own uproar. The Newcastle deal sparked the flames once again of Castore being in bed with Mike Ashley, something they and the club have assured us on multiple occasions they are not, while the structure of the Wolves deal sees the club produce their own training gear and put the Castore badge on. This has meant that Wolves are able to sell the training gear for a lower price than Rangers fans pay for theirs, which of course has irked the fans.

Even without these deals though Castore have managed to throw up some issues. Sports Direct advertised the new training gear before the club announced it (are you sure Mike Ashley has no pull?), then the new home kit was being delivered to some folk and available to purchase in the club stores before some fans had even received their champions kit from the 20/21 season. Now the new away kit has launched to marmite reviews and on closer inspection the shorts are almost identical to the training shorts but at a higher price. 

I have defended Castore a lot last season, I hope these are just minor things that seem bigger because of the history and they can learn from previous mistakes. I also hope they nail the next two kits.

The Return of Fans

Our match against Arsenal to celebrate our 150th anniversary was met with the news that fans would finally be allowed to attend again. After seeing full houses in England and 12k attending Hampden for the Euros this was great news... then we were told it would be 2k fans with crowds getting gradually larger per game. 

A shambles from the powers that be meant that there was no rhyme or reason to this, however with crowds at different but similarly sized stadiums being allowed differing sizes of crowds. You couldn't make it up really, except it's not surprising.

I was one of the lucky ones to be drawn out of the ballot for the Arsenal game, and I tell you what it felt amazing to be there. It felt like we were finally closing a chapter on a really strange time of our lives. Even though things aren't quite back to normal it felt like a massive step forward and being able to go to games again with my son was amazing.

Of course, the club seems to be making hard work of the ballots for the games, with mygers, CCCS and ST's all being contributing factors to who is in what ballot but then everyone getting the chance to buy tickets, then some not receiving follow up e-mails with gates, etc. The Rangers way really.

The ballot for Livingston is of course going to be last minute, but with an almost 1 in 2 chance of getting picked it looks good for folk needing to plan travel, etc to go ahead and make these plans in advance of notification. Then hopefully we should have a near full house for our first Champions League Qualifier.

I can't wait to get back in for a full house and see each and every one of us cheering on the famous to title 56 and after seeing how sharp the players looked tonight I'm quietly confident (not quietly terrified) we will do just that.

The Rambling Ger

Twitter - @GerRambling

IG - TheRamblingGer