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Rangers chief hints at "small crowds" when Scottish league resumes in August

Rangers chief hints at
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Locked-out fans will have access to virtual season tickets.

Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson has still not ruled out "small crowds" being present when the Scottish Premiership season kicks off.

The top flight is targeting an August 1 kick-off with the latest breakthrough towards that target coming via an agreement with Sky for clubs to sell virtual season tickets to locked-out fans.

Robertson confirmed that every Ibrox season ticket holder would have access to a stream of home matches and added on Rangers TV: "We are working on the basis that the season is going to start at the beginning of August.

"That will obviously depend on the government restrictions but at the moment it is looking as though it will be the beginning of August, probably behind closed doors initially, maybe with small crowds. There is a lot of work going on in that side of things."

No target date has been set for other Scottish divisions but Robertson revealed the latest on plans for the Betfred Cup, which normally starts in mid-July.

"We are hoping to be back (for pre-season training) round about June 15," he said. "There is a lot of detailed work behind the scenes there.

"We look forward to announcing a couple of pre-season friendlies as well, we need to get the guys up and running again, but we need to do it safely and carefully.

"It looks as though the League Cup is going to be moved back to October/November time. That's not been confirmed yet but that's the latest."

Rangers are still in last season's Europa League having lost 3-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the last 16 hours before football in Scotland was suspended.

"We are still waiting to hear from UEFA as to when we will be playing the second leg of the Bayer Leverkusen tie," Robertson said.

"Indications are early August but we have not had that confirmed. There is a UEFA executive committee meeting in mid June we're hoping to hear then.

"That hopefully will also confirm the details of the Europa League qualifiers for next season."

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General view of Ibrox Stadium, home to Rangers, from May 2015
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
Championship Group
CCeltic550095306593
2RangersRangers531187325585
3Hearts513154421268
4Kilmarnock51224644256
5St Mirren51134652-647
6Dundee50144968-1942
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1Aberdeen54104852-448
2Hibernian52125259-746
3Motherwell52035659-343
4St Johnstone51132954-2535
5Ross County51223867-2935
RLivingston52122970-4125
 
First Phase
CCeltic33246380265478
2RangersRangers33243672234975
3Hearts33195946341262
4Kilmarnock33131284334951
5St Mirren33127143843-543
6Dundee331011124454-1041
7Hibernian33912124451-739
8Motherwell33813124651-537
9Aberdeen33811143549-1435
10St Johnstone33710162446-2231
11Ross County3379173256-2430
RLivingston3339212259-3718


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