It has been an eventful few weeks over at Ibrox since they announced that the Rangers would be playing Celtic in Sydney in a friendly Glasgow Derby later this year. While neither set of fans seemed to be happy with the news, the supporters of the Ibrox side seemed to be particularly dissatisfied as being part of a tournament that was being labelled as Ange’s Homecoming Tour. Rumours also suggested that the Hoops were set to receive a much bigger participation fee.

There were a number statements from their supporters groups, demonstrations by fans at matches and situation around Ibrox was far from ideal.

And now, the Rangers have completed a U-turn and announced that they will not be participating in the Sydney Super Cup.

The club released a statement on their official website, that read:

Rangers can confirm the Club will not be participating in the Sydney Super Cup in November 2022.

After it became clear the tournament organisers were unwilling to fulfil their commitments to Rangers, we have, with immediate effect, terminated the Club’s agreement with the organisers.

Celtic fans react to Rangers pulling out of the Ange Homecoming Tour

It goes without saying that most Celtic fans were rather amused at the Rangers’ decision to pull out of the tour and they made it known on Twitter:

When rumours first broke out that the Rangers might withdraw from the Sydney Super Cup, there were suggestions that that might result in them having to pay a penalty. They do seem to attract penalties of all kinds, it seems!

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the side from Ibrox. On the other hand, it also remains to be seen what the future of the Sydney Super Cup is.

It is clear that the Glasgow Derby away in Australia was a major selling point of the event and now, one would hope that the organisers are to find a suitable replacement in time.