Rangers plan stadium expansion in 'near future' as James Bisgrove hints at timeline for Ibrox and Auchenhowie revamp

James Bisgrove says plans to expand Ibrox are high on Rangers' agenda - promising a big update in "the near future" on how it will take shape.

The Ibrox club have been considering options to expand the stadium from its current 50,817 capacity to accommodate some of those on their 10,000+ waiting list for season tickets. He had previously laid out three stages of development that could eventually raise the capacity to more than 60,000, putting it in line with rivals Celtic whose stadium holds 60,411.

Bisgrove also revealed plans are in the pipeline to upgrade the facilities at the Rangers Training Centre at Auchenhowie. Writing in his programme notes ahead of their 1-0 win over Motherwell, the managing director said: "Plans to further enhance both the Rangers Training Centre and Ibrox, by way of stadium expansion and upgrades to facilities, remain high on our agenda, and we look forward to detailing further plans in the near future."

It remains to be seen exactly how an Ibrox expansion will look but the first of three stages previously outlined by Bisgrove involved adding 1,300 seats to each of the 'TV screen' corners at the stadium. They could then remove the screens entirely to add a further 3-4,000 seats, while lowering the pitch could add a further 4,500 to take the capacity over the 60,000 mark. But that final step would be the most financially and logistically challenging, likely costing between £15-20m and involving a prolonged closure of the stadium for work to take place.

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