Rangers’ recent Europa League opponents Manchester United have announced they will be building a new state-of-the-art stadium to replace Old Trafford.
The English giants confirmed the news on Tuesday morning, with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe explaining that the stadium will boast a seated capacity of 100,000.
It would make it the largest stadium in the UK and one of the biggest in the world, as well as one of the most expensive in football history at a projected cost of £2bn.
Manchester United’s new ground and surrounding complex will take five years to build, with Ratcliffe promising it will be the ‘world’s greatest football stadium’ upon completion.
It got us at Rangers News thinking about one of the most historic British stadiums in Ibrox and the discourse in recent years about its possible expansion.
So we have produced a timeline that stretches back to the end of the 2022/23 season that explains everything that has been said about Ibrox stadium upgrades and expansion plans.
And with the impending takeover of Rangers by 49ers Enterprises, we delved into what the future may hold for Ibrox under the club’s new owners.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Ibrox’s disabled facilities upgrades
Almost two years ago now, Rangers announced a three-phased plan to drastically improve the disabled facilities across the stands at Ibrox.
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Upon completion, Rangers promised fans that the overall capacity of Ibrox would increase by 920 seats to over 51,500.
Phases one and two would focus on the Broomloan and Copland Road Stands, while phase three would finish at the Sandy Jardine Stand.
As of today, phase one and two have been completed – but not without well publicised difficulties. Phase two was massively disrupted in the summer of 2024 due to a steel shipment delay.
It meant Rangers had to relocate to Hampden Park at the start of the season to allow the work on the Copland Road Stand to be completed.
Phase three of the disabled facilities renovation was scheduled to take place this summer 2025. However, the Daily Record reported that this is now unlikely to happen due to ‘scarce resources’.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
James Bisgrove’s three Ibrox expansion options
One month later, it was time for a bigger announcement.
Former Rangers CEO James Bisgrove told supporters at Edmiston House that the club were considering three separate medium to long-term stadium expansion options.
Option one included increasing the capacity by 2,600 seats around both TV screen corners of the stadium at a cost of at least £6m.
Option two was radically different and proposed removing the TV screens altogether. That would then allow for an extra 8,000 seats in total – but at a huge cost of at least £20m.
And the final consideration announced by Bisgrove was to lower the Ibrox pitch. This was the least cost effective option because it would only add an extra 4,500 seats for an outlay of around £25m.
Moreover, concerning option three, it was noted that Rangers would have to relocate out of Ibrox during the season for the work to be completed – not ideal.
60-70,000-seater Ibrox Stadium
November 2023
This option was certainly not outlined in the June. The Herald reported near the end of 2023 that Rangers chiefs were considering a massive Ibrox expansion.
It would see the capacity rise to 70,000 seats. However, it was stressed that such renovation would be ‘a long way off’ and discussions were merely tentative.
But the 70,000 figure came under dispute in May 2024 when renowned sports journalist Henry Winter claimed that Rangers were ‘targeting funds’ to increase Ibrox’s capacity to 60,000 seats by 2030.
That would be justified, it was noted, because Rangers currently have over 46,000 season ticket holders with approximately 20,000 fans on the waiting list.
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
What now for Rangers and Ibrox expansion plans?
It’s all gone a bit quiet in that regard since the debacle in the summer concerning the Copland Road Stand.
James Bisgrove has now departed the club, so whether or not his three options to expand Ibrox are still on the table remains to be seen.
Former interim chairman John Gilligan confessed that any future upgrades for Ibrox would mean “planning for a period without use of the stadium”.
That’s likely not going to go down well with the fans given they were locked out of Ibrox for the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Gilligan did assure supporters that the 2025/26 season would begin at Ibrox, which means it is almost a guarantee renovation on the Sandy Jardine Stand will not commence as previously planned.
As for a full-scale expansion to a 60-70,000-seater stadium, perhaps that will come under serious consideration again when the 49ers Enterprises complete their majority takeover of Rangers.
The takeover has been agreed in principle and is expected to be completed in the next couple of months or so after a period of due diligence.