There are concessions to be made in the lower leagues.
At Glebe Park last Sunday, Rangers' substitutes had to wait outside the dressing room until the starting 11 players were changed and ready to go onto the pitch to warm-up. The team's kit hampers also blocked one of the corridors inside the main stand. Resourcefulness is among the qualities the Ibrox side will need in the lower leagues.
Distractions will abound at every new stadium the club visits, and the obligation is to not be affected by them. The Rangers players could joke about the neatness of the hedge that runs along part of the Glebe Park pitch after winning the Ramsdens Cup tie, but the humour would have been curtailed if the team had not dealt with the competitive demands of the occasion.
"Everybody's talking about where we have to travel to," says Kenny McDowall, the Rangers assistant manager. "The Brechin pitch was tight, slow, and not what we're used to, but we've got to win games at these places. We're trying to be as professional as we can. You've got to do your homework. We knew the Brechin team, but until you've seen the hedge... the boys were amazed how neat it was. There's a lot of kidology about these things, but we have to rise above that."
The intention at Rangers is to treat the club's time in the lower leagues as a mission. The aim is to return to the top-flight as quickly as possible, and signing Ian Black and Dean Shiels, who were among the best performing players in the Scottish Premier League last season, has raised the mood in the squad.
The visit of East Fife in the League Cup on Tuesday would once have been considered an occasion for fringe players and youngsters. Old certainties were abruptly dismantled since the old holding company entered administration last February. Ally McCoist's team should still be too strong for their opponents, but Rangers are behind in their preparations since they could not play friendlies while waiting for their SFA membership to be confirmed.
"It's probably the worst summer I've had," says McDowall. "It was one thing after another and seemed to keep spinning out of control. We didn't know what would face us when we came back. It was terrible, hard to take, but you've got to hang in there and keep working. This place will never die. We just need to build now and kick on."
l The season ticket deadline is now Tuesday August 7. The club will then open season ticket sales to supporters for all areas of the stadium. Season ticket holders can renew online at rangers.co.uk, by calling the hotline on 0871 702 1972 or returning a printed form by post or at the Ticket Centre.
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