Fair deal for disabled in Ibrox Stadium

Article posted by Coliseum, December 19^th, 2022

Image: Glasgow Rangers

The Scottish Premiership club Rangers F.C. has revealed their multimillion pound plan to renovate their residence – Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland – with an increased capacity as a result.

‘The Scottish Sun’ stated that the plans aim to significantly improve disabled facilities and accessibility around the stadium.

The Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow (UK) which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland.

The Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the South side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of 50,817.

‘The Scottish Sun’ further stated that issues surrounding disabled access at Ibrox have been consistently raised in recent times and proved a major talking point at last year’s annual general meeting (AGM).

‘The Gers’ Deputy Chairman John Bennett admitted at that meeting the facilities for disabled fans were “unacceptable” and vowed to find a solution, insisting the club wanted to be “best in class”.

Well, the AGM has come around again and a year on, Rangers have now presented on exactly how the proposed changes will look.

A project team was assembled to conduct a detailed feasibility study to take the plans on.

The club’s Finance Director Andrew Dickson explained that part of the redevelopment would, however, rest on the Board’s ability to raise further funds.

The plans will mean a major remodeling of the two stands behind the goals, the Broomloan and the Copland Road, as well as the creation of additional accessibility spaces in the Sandy Jardine Stand.

The proposed new spaces will be located in the areas at the back of the lower tiers of each of those stands.

In total, it will lead to 162 wheelchair spaces around Ibrox.

At the AGM, Rangers revealed these improvements will lead to the loss of 1,073 seats.

However, if all of the plans come to fruition, there will in fact be a gain of 727 seats across the stadium and that’s where the additional remodeling of the two stands behind the goals comes in.

That’s because the club have revealed plans to create an additional 1,800 seats to offset the losses from the accessibility improvements.

As shown on a video at the AGM, this has been proposed to be done using seating within cantilevers.

This will see the extending out of the upper decks of the Broomloan and Copland Road stands, above where the new accessible spaces are being created.

Nine hundred new seats will be created in those extended areas in each stand.

Dickson noted in his speech that there has been a desire to limit any impact on existing season ticket holders and any revenue loss, which is where the plans to work in additional seating come into force.

The stadium plans will follow the opening of the club’s New Edmiston House project.

Located right next to the stadium, the new venue will play host to live events, as well as containing a museum, cafe and other facilities.

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