The talk among the thousands of fans who had ventured south was as much about two stars not involved as the 22 Rangers players who did feature in the 2-1 win over Blackpool.
Calvin Bassey sat out the sunshine friendly as his club record move to Ajax entered the final stages and Malik Tillman watched from the stands after completing his loan switch from Bayern Munich 24 hours earlier. But for Gio Van Bronckhorst the focus was very much on the park and his evolving side with under a fortnight to go until the season kicks off for real.
And for the boss there were signs by the seaside that the ripple effect from the recent transfer activity that has seen Joe Aribo's exit soon to be followed by Bassey. With Tillman, Antonio Colak, Tom Lawrence and Rabbi Matondo all coming in the way, it will be as calm as the Irish Sea lapping up on the sun-drenched Blackpool waterfront.
The Ibrox boss gave four summer signings a run out sprinkled in among the old guard and a handful of academy stars ready to stake their claim. Among them was Charlie McCann who netted an impressive half volley to settle the outcome after Borna Barisic had opened the scoring.
Frontman Colak looked powerful and energetic leading the line for 78 minutes and was deprived a first goal in light blue by an offside flag.
Matondo showed his lightening pace and ball control in a 30-minute cameo alongside Lawrence and John Souttar who too was denied a debut goal by an instinctive Daniel Grimshaw save.
What Tillman can bring to the table will likely be seen in the double header Ibrox friendlies against West Ham and Tottenham this week.
But Van Bronckhorst is confident he has signed a ready-made replacement for Aribo in the Bayern loanee.
He said: “We lost Joe and we want to have the same squad as last year so with Malik arriving we have it looking as it should be.
“He is a midfielder with a lot of good passing, good movement and can score goals. He is quite physical so he will give us a lot of strength in there.
“We now have a really competitive squad and we want competition for positions.
“Of course when we knew of the interest in Joe we moved quickly to Malik.
“We spoke with him a couple of weeks ago, that’s why he has a good feeling to come here.
“I’m happy he is joining us and he is excited about starting.”
Bassey’s looming departure leaves a question mark on the left side of defence but Barisic did more than enough to remind those watching he was the original lefty in recent years at Ibrox. His 50th minute opener - in which he chased down a loose ball in the corner, won it back and cut inside before unleashing a curling effort past Grimshaw with his previously unheard of right foot - was impressive.
So too was 20-year-old McCann’s 76th minute strike that arrowed into the bottom corner from 20 yards after a corner had only been half cleared. Van Bronckhorst said: “Borna has played well and the way he scored - we lost the ball and he won it back and his shot was great.
“Also the shot from Charlie for the second goal - we don’t score those goals last season, shooting from distance. We now have players who can shoot from distance and you need that sometimes.
“For some players it was their first game of pre-season and I was really happy nearly everyone could feature and get minutes. We prepare now for a big week because we are playing two really good quality opponents. After that we have a week to prepare for the start of the season.”
Meanwhile, Alfredo Morelos has rejoined his Rangers team mates in training as he steps up his return from injury. Filip Helander remains sidelined after pulling up on the Ibrox side’s pre-season training camp in Portugal last week.
Van Bronckhorst gave an update on his injured stars after the win in Blackpool with Fashion Sakala, Kemar Roofe and Alex Lowry also missing. And the news on Morelos, who missed the season run-in after suffering a thigh injury on international duty with Colombia in March, was positive.
The manager said: “Morelos is doing partial training with the team now but Filip is still not training with us he had a setback so we have to wait and see how that is developing. Fashion got a knock in training on Thursday. He trained Friday but wasn’t feeling 100 per cent so we decided not to take him. Alex is still in recovery.”
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