While the trip to Easter Road
sees Mark Warburton’s Rangers Revolution take its maiden bow a fortnight on
Saturday, its domestic campaign gets underway in earnest when the former
Brentford’s charges host St Mirren on the opening day of the Championship season
on the 8th of next month.
Widely-regarded as Rangers’
toughest rivals for the title, with Hibs being second, the Buddies are reformed
under new manager and former Rangers defender Ian Murray, and also contain a
second Rangers-related subplot with talismanic striker Alan Gow also plying his
trade during a disappointing spell at Ibrox.
Mark Warburton’s hosts have made
three confirmed signings, with a glut of trialists currently at Murray Park
and further negotiations for loan deals in the making, and the chances of the
opening match of the domestic league season seeing a very different Rangers to
the Fir Park disaster are high.
Many would argue Rangers are the
favourites, but in recent seasons Rangers have been plugged as such and the
results have not borne that out, and St Mirren will still be reeling from their
demotion to the Championship, eager to return as soon as possible. Bears keen
on a punt for this match will know this site is always curious about odds, and
as such the
football odds to bet on William Hill for the match see Rangers odds-on at
8/11.
The visitors have also enhanced
their squad by getting ex-Celtic development squad product Paul McMullan,
further adding to the sub-plots featuring in this match (
Alan Gow desperately wanted this fixture to be the first one St Mirren got). It will also be the
first time Rangers and St Mirren have actually met in over three years, the
last clash being in 2012 with a 3-1 victory for Rangers at Ibrox.
Warburton will certainly be
hoping for something similar next month.