Turn the clock back to 12 months ago. In his first pre-season friendly as the new Rangers boss, Russell Martin and his players found themselves 2-0 down at half-time against Club Brugge and were booed off the pitch.
That set the tone for everything that was to follow over the next couple of months. By the time Rangers met Brugge again in the Champions League qualifiers and lost 9-1 on aggregate, Martin’s days were numbered.
In comparison to the hiring of Martin, the reaction among supporters to the appointment of Derek McInnes could scarcely be any different; right man, right time, smart move.
This visit of Saint-Etienne to Ibrox represented Rangers’ first proper pre-season friendly after a couple of bounce games behind closed doors over the past fortnight.
As was the case with Martin a year ago, there was a feeling of anger among the supporters as the new manager made his bow, only this time it had nothing to do with the performance or result.
The SFA’s decision to hit McInnes with a four-game ban over comments he made at the end of last season whilst in charge of Hearts landed like a lead balloon.
Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin both played their part in Rangers’ win on their debuts
Home fans spent much of the 90 minutes chanting against the SFA and telling them where to go, as the Hearts fans had done in their Champions League qualifier against Sturm Graz on Tuesday night.
The ban means that McInnes won’t formally take charge of Rangers on the touchline until the Europa League qualifier against Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok here on August 13.
He will miss the first three domestic matches of the season, but his new-look side showed some promising signs that they could be finding their feet.
They claimed a 2-1 win thanks to two penalties — one from Lawrence Shankland, the other from Thelo Aasgaard — and certainly had some bright moments.
The best player on the pitch was actually Cammy Devlin, who came off the bench at half-time and showed terrific aggression and industry in central midfield.
McInnes took the acclaim of supporters prior to kick off when he emerged from the tunnel. Sporting a club suit and tie, there was a brief wave, but it was fairly low-key.
Perhaps he was seething at the verdict that had just been delivered from Hampden earlier in the day. It could well foster a siege mentality at Rangers before the season has even started.
Still basking in the warm glow of summer as they made their way to Ibrox, Rangers fans will hope the dawn of a new season brings a few more rays of sunshine in the weeks and months to come.
Derek McInnes applauds the fans before kick-off and was well received by the Ibrox support
The wounds of what happened last season, when the team collapsed so spectacularly in the title run-in, still run deep among supporters and will take some time to be forgotten.
In the end, Rangers lost four of their five post-split fixtures. It was a spectacular unravelling, one which signalled the end for Danny Rohl, even before Red Bull Salzburg came in and took him off Rangers’ hands.
Just over a month has passed since Rohl departed for Austria and it’s fair to say McInnes has wasted no time in trying to put his own stamp on the squad.
Five of the club’s new signings started this clash with Saint-Etienne; Ivor Pandur, Ross McCrorie, Ben Godfrey, Dan Neil and Shankland.
Indeed, Godfrey led Rangers out as captain. The appointment of a new skipper is one of the key issues McInnes still has to address before the start of the new campaign.
There is no shortage of options. Godfrey has experience and is a former England international, Shankland was captain of Hearts, whilst Neil also captained Sunderland to promotion to the Premier League.
McCrorie is also a Scotland international who knows Rangers inside out from his time coming through the ranks as a youth player.
Nico Raskin would be another option, though much will depend on his future once he returns from holiday following his exertions with Belgium in the World Cup.
Shankland opens the scoring from the first of the two penalties Rangers were awarded
Saint-Etienne have fallen on hard times of late and are now operating in the second tier in France after suffering relegation a couple of years ago.
They are also now under the command of Ian Cathro, the former Hearts manager who became a figure of ridicule in his home country on the back of his ill-fated spell in Gorgie 10 years ago.
Rangers took the lead after five minutes when Mohamed Diomande was felled inside the box and Shankland stepped up to fire the penalty-kick low into the bottom corner.
Just as it had done for so many years at Tynecastle, Shankland’s name rang out to the tune of Glad All Over by the Dave Clark Five.
Shankland partnered Youssef Chermiti up front, with a flat four in midfield behind them. Diomande played on the right side of midfield, with Neil and Tochi Chukwuani in the middle, and Findlay Curtis on the left.
There were some bright moments at the top end of the pitch and Chermiti almost made it 2-0 when he hit the crossbar on 10 minutes. But there were also some nervy moments at the back. Pandur, the new Croatian goalkeeper signed from Hull City, was required to make a good save to deny Jakob Breum.
It was notable that Saint-Etienne were finding a lot of joy in getting players in behind and running off the back of Emmanuel Fernandez and Godfrey.
The French side equalised on 38 minutes when Breum capitalised on some hesitancy in the Rangers defence to fire past Pandur.
With the scoreline poised at 1-1, McInnes made one change at half-time, with Devlin coming on to replace Curtis.
Midfielder Dan Neill, a summer acquisition from Sunderland, was a busy presence throughout
Curtis had an excellent few months on loan with Kilmarnock in the second half of last season, duly forcing his way into Scotland’s World Cup squad. He can undoubtedly be an asset to Rangers. It will be intriguing to monitor his game-time and development under McInnes in the months ahead.
Devlin showed typical industry and aggression to break up the play and win the ball in some really promising areas and it was from one such interception that Shankland took the ball and tried his luck from the halfway line with the Saint-Etienne keeper off his line.
Rangers won it thanks to a penalty tucked away by Aasgaard on 84 minutes. Tougher tests undoubtedly lie ahead, but this was a night when the McInnes era got up and running with a win.
West Ham will visit Ibrox on Sunday, before Rangers kick-off their Premiership campaign with a trip to face Dundee United at Tannadice next Friday night.
Rangers (4-4-2): Pandur 7; McCrorie 7 (Nsio 73), Fernandez 5, Godfrey 6, Rommens 7; Diomande 7, Chukwuani 6 (Aasgaard 60), Neil 7, Curtis 6 (Devlin 46); Shankland 7 (Miovski 73), Chermiti 6.5 (Naderi 60).
Attendance: 24,818.
