BROXED OFF

Gers hunt for new home to start season after work delay puts Ibrox off limits for a month

- ANDY NEWPORT

RED-FACED Rangers chiefs are scrambling to find another stadium after admitting a construction cock-up will force Philippe Clement's side to decamp away from Ibrox for the first month of the new season.

Multi-million-pound upgrade works to the Copland Road end are running weeks behind schedule, meaning the stadium won't be ready to host games when the campaign starts on August 3.

A delayed shipment of steel for a new cantilever section being built as part of an overhaul of the club's facilities for disabled fans is to blame.

With the delivery not due to arrive on UK shores from Asia until late July, Gers chiefs have been left scurrying to find an alternative venue.

The club is now racing to get the work completed - but the worst-case scenario could see them playing away from Ibrox for the whole of August.

Hampden was initially thought to have been ruled out of the club's contingency plans.

The National Stadium is set to host two outdoor concerts involving US pop star Pink at the end of this month, after which its pitch will be ripped up and relaid. But sources last night insisted SFA chiefs may be open to a proposal from Gers.

Rangers are heading to Murrayfield next month to take on Manchester United in a glamour friendly clash and there's already speculation the home of Scottish Rugby could provide a potential solution.

But that would force fans to travel 48 miles east to the other end of the M8.