James Bisgrove gives Rangers-Celtic ticket update and reveals latest on director of football role

Rangers have offered their counterparts around 700 tickets for the opening derby on September 3 and also promised better stewarding and policing. But even if Celtic turn that down, new Ibrox chief executive Bisgrove will continue to advance his desire to provide Rangers fans with access to every away game, including the first league derby at Parkhead in December.

He said: “Our belief, as a club, and certainly mine as the chief executive coming into Rangers, is that away fans add so much to football – the colour, the vibrancy – no matter the game. Then you look at the Old Firm fixture and having away fans there is a positive in terms of the stadium atmosphere and also the spectacle worldwide.

“We have had discussions to see, based on the number of season tickets we have sold, what we could make available to Celtic and that is the 700-750 number that we have made available for the last four or five years.

“I believe the respective security teams have met and there have been reassurances made by the Rangers security staff in terms of extra stewarding and extra policing. That is a conversation we need to have with Celtic in terms of what they want to do. We believe that away fans should be at football matches so we would want Rangers fans to be at Parkhead in December, absolutely.”

Rangers have been operating without a director of football since Ross Wilson left in April, with manager Michael Beale working directly with Bisgrove and the other directors on recruitment. And Bisgrove admits the club could yet continue with that model for the foreseeable future.

“We have met different individuals, individuals with great experience,” said Bisgrove of the pursuit of Wilson’s successor. “Some are UK based, some have more international experience. Given the focus that we have had on the summer transfer window, we decided that is where we needed to take decisions for now and then we will revisit that at the right time.

“It is a possibility (they could continue to operate without a sporting director). We will meet as a board in early September, just before the Celtic game, and we will discuss that as a potential scenario, aligned to some of the candidates that we have met.”

Rangers take the first step on Wednesday on the journey they hope will take them back into the Champions League group stage, with Servette at Ibrox for the first leg of the third qualifying round tie. Bisgrove, speaking before the team’s opening day defeat to Kilmarnock, naturally hoped Rangers would return to European football’s top table but underlined that failing to do so would not come with immediate ramifications.

“Our aim is to be in the Champions League,” he added. “If we aren’t able to make it then we’ll look to make an absolute success of the Europa League. I don’t think whether we’re in the Champions League or the Europa League group stage will have a material impact in terms of what we’re doing with the squad as we’re pretty much there now in terms of building a squad that we think can compete in the Champions League.”