Before West Ham’s Championship season gets underway, they’ll face Scottish Premier League side Rangers away. This will be the third meeting between the two clubs. Having announced preseason fixtures against Southend United and Stevenage on July 18 and 22, facing Rangers will give them a better idea of where they stand.
West Ham will travel to Ibrox Stadium in Scotland on July 26 with the kickoff at 4 pm. By then, Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad should be taking shape. Fans hope to know who will be committing to the fight ahead by then and who will be coming in on transfers.
West Ham have yet to record a victory against the Scottish giants. The clubs first met in 1979 in the Caledonian Cup semi-final, where Rangers won 3-2. They met again in the preseason before the 2022 campaign and suffered a 3-1 loss.
For a section of the West Ham fanbase, the relative modesty of this summer's pre-season schedule, domestic fixtures against Southend, Stevenage, and now a trip to Glasgow rather than the usual tours to Asia or North America, is being framed not as a step down, but almost as a silver lining of relegation.
While the Rangers fixture won't carry the commercial appeal of a pre-season tour to the United States or Asia, it offers a genuinely competitive test against a club with European pedigree, a passionate atmosphere at a famous old stadium, and a straightforward away day for the travelling Hammers support without the jet lag.
Nuno will likely use the Ibrox fixture as a key staging post in his preparations, with much of the first-choice Championship squad expected to feature as the manager builds up his players towards match fitness ahead of the new season. Given the ongoing nature of West Ham's rebuild, with departures expected among the club's most prized assets and a host of incoming targets being assessed by new sporting director Steve Nickson, who should be announced officially any day now, should have players in by then.
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