Rangers chairman Bennett warns he can't be sure when club will be playing at Ibrox again

Rangers chairman John Bennett has warned he can’t be sure when Ibrox will be ready to host matches again.

Already set to play at Hampden throughout August as they wait for building work on their stadium to be completed, the chairman last night issued an updated timescale which could see them play a third ‘home’ league game against Hibs on September 28 at the National Stadium as well as up to two European matches.

And while the issue, which has been caused by a delay in the delivery of building materials for the Copland Road stand, should be resolved around then, Bennett offered no guarantee they would be back at Ibrox by the end of September.

Rangers will host Motherwell (August 10) and Ross County (August 24) at Hampden as well as a likely clash with Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League qualifiers as a consequence of the building delays.

The Rangers chairman revealed yesterday that only one of three shipping consignments have so far arrived in Glasgow.

And with the others only due to get here in the second and third weeks of August, Bennett admitted he couldn’t say when Ibrox would be ready again, stating: ‘the one thing we crave is certainty and I can’t give it’.

He added: ‘We can aspire for that to be at the end of September, but it is an aspiration.

‘I am sorry that I have to caveat this. It frustrates me so much that I have to caveat it, but I think I have given the reasons I have to caveat it — the shipping situation.

‘Yes, I can have an aspiration to get our people back into our home for the final game of September. But, yes, it could slip beyond that.’

Addressing the situation at length as Rangers prepare to start their Premiership campaign at Tynecastle on Saturday, Bennett apologised to supporters for the inconvenience and confusion that’s arisen.

‘I apologise again on behalf of this club for the uncertainty it has caused our fans,’ he added.

‘I can assure the fans that the people in this club are working tirelessly to get this done. We need to finish the job.

‘We must also not lose sight for whom this job was undertaken —our fans, and in particular our disabled fans.’

Bennett (pictured) explained why the club opted to take out a short-term lease on Hampden rather than look to play their games at Murrayfield.

‘For me, the prime choice (was to) prioritise Hampden for our fans,’ he continued. ‘We know the geographic dispersion of our season ticket holders, etc. So, a stadium big enough to house them and minimise the disruption. That is why it was all systems go for Hampden.

‘I thank, again, our people in the club for what they are doing right now.

‘They are working so hard to make this as seamless as we possibly can to minimise the disruption.

‘But the other people I want to thank are our counterparts, specifically at the SFA because they also rose to this challenge and they acted like partners with us. That is what you need. I have said this to people in the club.

In times of crisis, you find people out. You find out who stands up and who hides and so many people in the club have stood up and the SFA stood with us like partners in this. And the SPFL I want to thank as well.’

Although their side is due to face Motherwell at Hampden on August 10, Rangers season ticket holders remain in the dark as to what seats they will be allocated.

‘That is 24/7 work going on,’ Bennett added. ‘People in the ticket office and elsewhere... that’s a very good example of people working weekends or working around the clock on precisely that issue. I’m hopeful that by the end of this week we can provide that update.’

In a wide-ranging interview with Rangers in-house media channel, Bennett also addressed the club’s finances.

While there’s been disquiet among fans about the transfer window to date, the chairman reiterated his desire to see the club conduct its business off the park in a more sensible manner.

‘It is not an overstatement to say that on becoming chairman my number one mission off the pitch was to rid the club of pre-player trading losses,’ he stated.

‘And I called that out at the AGM. That number to June 2023 was £10.5m (loss). That’s unsustainable and we should talk about sustainability, Financial Fair Play etc.

‘Football clubs are really good at spending other people’s money, at wasting resources.

‘We were good at that as well. And that’s changing big-style and fast because it had to change fast.’

Insistent the club had to look to the longer-term as well as the coming season as they have recruited this summer, Bennett continued: ‘Philippe (Clement) has been very, very clear and he has nailed it, and we endorse it.

‘That is, recruiting for the long-term as well as for the short-term. And he has actually gone further than that, he has actually said, if I can paraphrase him, recruiting only for the short-term has caused problems historically. I completely endorse that.’