The side head to Tayside aiming to begin the new era under Derek McInnes with three points against Dundee United.
The Gers last squared off against the Tannadice outfit to kick off the league season back in 1987/88, while you’d have to go all the way back to 1969 for the last opening day meeting between the two sides on Tayside.
Kilmarnock, indeed, are Rangers’ most regular opening weekend opposition alongside St. Mirren, with the two teams having done battle on 13 separate occasions.
In fact, two of those showdowns have come in the last seven years, with the Gers triumphing through a dramatic last-minute winner from Connor Goldson in 2019 before falling to a narrow defeat at Rugby Park in 2023.
The Paisley side, meanwhile, were last up on the opening weekend for the Gers back in 2015/16 when Mark Warburton kicked off his league tenure as manager in the Scottish Championship with a 3-1 win at Ibrox.
Elsewhere, the biggest margin of victory on matchday one for Rangers remains a 7-0 win over Port Glasgow in 1908, with the post-war record belonging to a 6-0 triumph over St. Johnstone in the 1991/92 campaign where Mark Hateley powered home a hat-trick to begin Walter Smith’s first full season as manager.
Rangers also netted six times to open the 1960/61 season in a 6-3 victory over Partick Thistle, while their longest winning run on the opening day is 25 consecutive victories between 1907 and 1931.
The opening weekend has saw the Gers square off against 34 different opponents and they have only failed to record a victory against two of them.
It isn’t uncommon for two sides to meet in consecutive opening weekends, and it was the case for the Gers between 1972 and 1974 when they went toe-to-toe with Ayr United to open three successive campaigns.
Falkirk, meanwhile, were the opening weekend opposition for Rangers in the first and second of Walter Smith’s three-in-a-row between 2009 and 2011, with the side triumphing on both occasions.
More recent was the Gers facing off against Livingston in both 2021 and 2022, home and away respectively, when they raised the flag for the 55th league title in a 3-0 triumph over the west Lothian side at Ibrox before a dramatic turnaround the following year in Livingston delivered a 2-1 win.
Indeed, in the 55 seasons that the club have tasted league success, 39 victories have been recorded on the opening day, 10 draws have been played out, and on just six occasions have Rangers been condemned to defeat.
McInnes certainly wants his side to raise the curtain on a new campaign in positive fashion as he commented in his pre-match press conference: "We need to feel excited about a new season starting. This is a real opportunity for us to start as we mean to go on.
"It's been well-documented that Rangers haven't started the first game of the season well for a number of years and the cards have dealt us a tough fixture, but it's very rarely you get an easy fixture away from home.
“It will be tough going to Tannadice, but it's important that Dundee United have a tougher game than what we're getting, and we've got to turn up on Friday and do our jobs well.”
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