RANGERS supporters finally, after two closed door outings against Spurs and Ayr United, got the first glimpse of their side under Mark Warburton in a pre-season friendly with Burnley at Ibrox last night.

And if the evidence of this early encounter with English Championship opposition is anything to go by, their new manager is not a man who will do things by halves.

No fewer than six of the eight signings he has made since being appointed last month - Wes Foderingham, James Tavernier, Rob Kiernan, Andy Halliday and Martyn Waghorn – started the game.

Elsewhere, Jason Holt, the midfielder who has been on trial at Murray Park and who is expected to put pen to paper on a deal with the Ladbrokes Championship club this week after a £65,000 fee was agreed with his former employers Hearts, kicked off the match as a trialist.

The only survivors from a 2014/15 campaign which ended in the bitter disappointment of a heavy Premiership play-off final defeat in May were Nicky Law, David Templeton, who hardly featured under either Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall or Stuart McCall last term, and Lee Wallace, who captained the side.

Barrie McKay, the diminutive winger who was loaned out to Raith Rovers last term, also found himself back involved to the delight of those Rangers fans who were impressed with his contribution in the Third Division three seasons ago.

There was no place for Darren McGregor, the centre half who was named Rangers Player of the Year after his debut campaign at Ibrox, as Kiernan and Wilson formed an all-new central defensive partnership.

Nicky Clark, Kenny Miller, Dean Shiels and Marius Zaliukas, regulars under the new manager’s assorted predecessors, and Fraser Aird and Tom Walsh, occasional starters, had to content themselves with places on the substitutes bench.

Both Cammy Bell, the goalkeeper, and Andy Murdoch, the young central midfielder who impressed greatly after breaking through last year, were absent from the 21-man squad altogether.

Whether the Rangers side which Warburton sends out to take on Hibs in the first round of the Petrofac Training Cup at Easter Road on Saturday – his first competitive game in charge – has such an unfamiliar look remains to be seen.

However, the 22,344 supporters who filed through the turnstiles at Ibrox to have a look at the former Brentford boss and the players he has brought in this summer left with the distinct impression that it is all change.

Warburton received an impromptu round of applause as an interview with him by Rangers TV was shown pre-match on the giant screens and he was given a warm welcome as he took his place in the dugout before kick-off.

If his charges defend as poorly as they did when they allowed Scott Arfield to open the scoring in 35 minutes in the Championship in the months ahead the response from the stands may not be quite so friendly.

Warburton’s side was, with Halliday, Holt, Law, McKay, Templeton and Waghorn all in it, a positive and attacking one. They dominated rivals who fielded two Scotland internationalists in George Boyd and Matt Gilks in the early stages of the game and should have forged ahead.

Halliday played as a deep-lying central midfielder just behind Holt and Law with McKay with Templeton wide on the left and right wings respectively and Waghorn operating as a lone striker. It worked well. The pace, passing and movement were a distinct improvement on much of the fare which has been served up on the same surface in the last year.

Bringing in young, hungry players with fresh legs had been welcomed by many of those inside the stadium who had grown frustrated at the defensive brand of play produced by an ageing side. It did not, though, result in Rangers scoring and taking the lead.

Gilks did extremely well to keep out a cross from Rangers right back Tavernier which Burnley defender Ben Mee inadvertently diverted towards his own goal and then block a close-range volley from Waghorn.

Rangers were left to rue their missed opportunities, which they really should have converted at least one of, when Arfield, the former Falkirk and Huddersfield midfielder, pounced to put the visitors in front.

Wilson should have been far more alert to the threat which his countryman posed. His assistant manager and former team mate Davie Weir, who understands only too well the standards required of a Rangers centre half, will have been far from impressed.

There were seven changes after an hour as Halliday, Holt, Kiernan, McKay, Templeton, Tavernier and Waghorn made way for Aird, Clark, McGregor, Miller, Shiels, Jordan Thompson and Walsh and Zaliukas later came on for Wilson. It was very much a case of out with the new, in with the old.

The replacements were unable to get Rangers back on level terms and Warburton’s first game at Ibrox ended in a 1-0 defeat. Still, there were some encouraging signs for the season ahead.