Motherwell and Rangers open their league campaigns with a tea time encounter at Fir Park on Saturday.
Long gone is the time when the season began with a peep from the referee at 3pm on a Saturday.
This will be an introduction to the William Hill Premier League for several players from both teams as well as their respective managers. Jens Berthel Askou and Russell Martin were colleagues under former employers but they will occupy opposing dugouts under the Phil O’Donnell stand.
Motherwell will have to change the approach that served against the lower division opposition that they faced in the four group stage matches. On Saturday they will find that their opponents are unlikely to retreat to the last third. ‘Well fans have become used to seeing their ‘keeper playing as a sweeper. Maybe not this time!
Tawanda Maswanhise and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos seem to be the preferred starting pair in attack although the manager has made sure that Luca Ross and Eseosa Sule had their ration of game time.
Rangers will have few days to recover after their exertions in Athens for the second leg of the Champions League qualifier. The Ibrox squad is big enough to cope.
Close season changes mean that few of the visitors will have played at Fir Park and certainly not in last December’s fixture when the teams shared a 2-2 draw.
A repeat of that score would do nicely.
