IT all begins again tomorrow for Rangers.
It surely won't be as traumatic or unfamiliar to Ally McCoist and his players as it was this time last year when, following a summer of unprecedented upheaval, they travelled to Brechin City for their first ever involvement in the Ramsdens Cup.
Their experiences that day – when it took an extra-time goal from Lee McCulloch to make it through to the second round – set the tone for a tumultuous campaign as the Rangers circus embarked on a tour all around the country (and into England for Berwick Rangers) to fulfill their third division and cup commitments. They eventually achieved their ultimate goal – to win the title – but it was a journey not without stumbles and setbacks along the way.
Now for the sequel. Rangers have moved up to the third tier – now rebranded as SPFL League One – where they will visit, and be visited, by nine clubs grateful to have them there. Some, like Brechin and Dunfermline Athletic, will offer familiar settings, while others like East Fife, Forfar Athletic and Stranraer will seem new and unusual to both fans and players alike. The culture shock of having to adjust to lower league football will have diminished for most following last year's experiences but there are enough new faces in the Rangers squad for whom a period of adjustment may be required. McCoist expects it to be just as challenging as the season that preceded it.
"I think it will be the exact same because we are now faced with teams who haven't had the opportunity to play us like teams in Division Three had," he said. "And they will be absolutely equal in terms of the amount of passion from the opposition. It will be the same this year, no doubt about it.
"Going up to Brechin, which is a lovely wee place, last year there were balls getting stuck in the tops of hedges and that kind of thing. The funfair coming to town ... that was where it all started. We were faced with a lot of problems, but that one particular problem will be the exact same and I just hope we can handle that a bit better, which we did towards the middle and end of last season."
First up is an away tie against Albion Rovers. McCoist admitted he was "not devastated" that the match has been switched from Rovers' Cliftonhill stadium to Livingston but expected it would be a difficult start to a testing campaign.
"Albion Rovers probably thought they would be the one club that missed getting something out of us meeting them in the bottom level, but as fate would have it, we've actually drawn them in the Ramsdens Cup," he added, "I don't have any doubt, in fact I know, they will be right up for it because I have spoken to one or two people and we've obviously had them watched in games. They've had a couple of games where they beat Stranraer 3-1 and battered in eight against St Anthony's I think. So we know."
Rangers had hoped to go far in all of the cup competitions last year but the Ramsdens Cup, open only to clubs from the bottom three divisions, was the one they were expected to win. Instead their adventure came to an abrupt end via a penalty shoot-out defeat at home to Queen of the South who went on to lift the trophy. McCoist is determined to make amends.
"We will go into every competition wanting to win it and the Ramsdens is absolutely no different. We are not in the position to say one is more valuable than other – obviously we are targeting promotion – but in terms of all the cups they will be the same because we want to win them all."
The task facing McCoist has been made more difficult in the first six weeks of the campaign after he discovered he would be restricted on which trialists he would be allowed to play, and how often. None of those signed from clubs outside of Scotland can play a competitive match until after the registration embargo ends on September 1, while those who were signed domestically can play only three times in the league, and not at all in the League Cup or the Ramsdens Cup after the first round. It leaves the likes of Cammy Bell, a summer recruit from Kilmarnock, facing a period of uncertainty.
"It's going to be difficult," he said. "I know I'm not going to play in every game but I just need to keep training hard. The hardest part of pre-season for me is probably not going to be the physical part, which has been tough as well, but the mental side of things, wanting to play football but knowing that I can't."
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