RANGERS today return to the top flight of Scottish football after four years in the lower divisions.

What has it been like for the fans to follow their team to unfamiliar grounds since 2012 - and how do they feel about today's game against Hamilton?

Here, four fans give their thoughts.

Julie Neill, 43

Season-ticket holder since she was 13

Rangers being demoted was so bad for Scottish football. You only have to look at our main competitors across the city – their gates fell as well. There was a shallow narrow-mindedness shown by the clubs that voted for demotion but they didn't look at the bigger picture. This was very much proved when the tax-bill court case was thrown out so there was no need for Rangers to be put into liquidation.

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But the last four years have been interesting. It was very strange going to some grounds that had small capacities, though. There were some grounds where you almost felt as if you could reach out and touch the players.

From a fan's point of view, it's been an interesting experience. Humbling, too: you now appreciate the top flight more.

What I will say is, all these towns have enjoyed the fact the Rangers supporters have travelled there, because they have spent so much money. I think that's where the lower leagues will now experience a gap. They're not going to get that income any more. There needs to be financial support from the SFA to these clubs to make up the shortfall. If you look at the figures, one visit by Rangers was a real payday for the clubs. And bear in mind that we followed the team through rain and hail.

From a Rangers perspective, though, I think going down to the bottom league gave us the [player] clear-out we needed at that time. The last four years have made the team harder and stronger on the park; the smaller teams waded straight in. We’ve had to fight tooth and nail to get to where we are today. I'm so excited about the season starting and the first Old Firm game [at Celtic Park on September 10]. I can't wait for that. It's going to be so good, returning to some sort of normality after four long years. There will be a massive build-up atmosphere to the game.

Stuart Spencer, 24

Politics graduate and secretary of the RC Hamilton Glasgow University Rangers Supporters' Club

As far as the last four years are concerned, sometimes I can't believe they happened. Even when you knew what was coming when we were placed into the third division it was still a bit of an eye-opener to see these small grounds. Some of them weren't grounds: they were more like parks, really.

But there was a lot of pressure on Rangers in these compact grounds. Most of the fans present might have been Rangers' fans but the games didn't always go to plan. It took us a while to win away from home. A real low point was losing at Stirling Albion [in October 2012]. Albion's manager Greig McDonald wasn't at the game because he was getting married. Albion even brought out a DVD of that game.

It was all a learning experience, though. It was good seeing these places around Scotland and it was good that we brought money into the local clubs. It was a bit of fresh air in the Scottish game, in the lower divisions where Rangers were bringing attention to these clubs who no-one had heard of before and who, all of a sudden, were getting television coverage.

In November 2013, while Rangers were in the second division, we developed a supporters' club at the university. We named it after RC Hamilton, a leading Rangers and Scotland player in the late 19th century who graduated as a teacher from the university while still a player. But it was quite hard at first: a lot of fans weren't going to the games at that time, because of what had happened. We set up the club to try to raise Rangers' profile – which it has done, dramatically.

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The last four years, then, have been an experience, something that won't be forgotten about in Scottish football for a very long time. But there is a strong element of Rangers supporters who can say they were part of that, myself included. A lot of fans deserve credit for sticking it out. Were these four lost years? Not really. You have to look at the positives, at the fact this was a historical development, at the fact the club had to rebuild. The journey back to the top of Scottish football has been long but finally we are back where we belong. There's now light at the end of the tunnel. Me and the club members will all be at today's game against Hamilton. We can’t wait.

Graeme Millar, 28

Lifelong Rangers fan

Initially, after we were demoted, there was a period of excitement and there was a good buzz on the buses and at Ibrox itself. Along the way we had many disappointing results but there were good times as well. If you've been on a supporters' bus you can imagine the atmosphere, especially going on long distances to Elgin and Annan and other places.

Visiting small towns like that was surreal. Rangers are used to playing the cream of the crop in European competitions: to go from that to the likes of Brechin so quickly was strange. But at the same time we knew we were doing a good thing in bringing in gate receipts for these smaller clubs. There was an online trend at one point, I remember: if we were travelling to Elgin, say, there would be a Rangers scarf wrapped around the sign saying: "Welcome to Elgin." There were a lot of happy times on the road.

I'm not too disappointed that Rangers had to play through the leagues. I wasn't unhappy to have been there. But the football we played during that period under Ally McCoist numbed that a little bit. But we're now back in the top flight, having had a very successful Championship season. We're in a strong position, having come through the lower leagues.

I think we've been galvanised by the successes and the events of the last four years and by the successes of last season; it has brought about a sense of unity among the Rangers support where perhaps there was division in terms of what was the best way forward. We've got a great manager in Mark Warburton. We've got new signings like Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar; they're here because they see the bigger picture in terms of Rangers being back in the top flight. There's a real excitement about us being back. Obviously I've got my blue-tinted specs on but I can't see any team apart from Rangers winning the Ladbrokes Premiership this season. I'll be disappointed if that doesn't happen.

Willie Vass, 49

Sports photographer and lifelong Rangers fan

I’m bringing out a book, Glasgow Rangers: The Journey (Mission Accomplished), and hope to have it out for October. It will have 200-plus pages detailing, in pictures, the four seasons in the footballing outposts of Scotland.

My overriding memories of the first season were being warmly welcomed by all the member clubs in SFL Division 3 which was a stark contrast to the bitterness and hostility encountered by the then SPL clubs who hastily put the boot into Rangers.

I remember setting off at 7am to places such as Elgin, Forres and Peterhead and wondering where to park and how to get our images back to the picture desks. There were small grounds which sprouted makeshift scaffolding stands to cram in the extra thousands of away fans – cultivating the blue pound, perhaps. I remember, too, seeing thousands of fans in red, white and blue descend on these small towns and make it a day out.

Then the football got brutal in later seasons – route one from front to back. Turgid stuff but the fans kept on supporting their team in numbers. They were the real heroes, standing up to their ankles in mud and cheering on a team which perhaps at times did not deserve that level of support. Off-field trouble may have played its hand in those results but the fans also forced regime change and ushered in a new board of directors with a new vision on the footballing front.

Mark Warburton and [assistant manager] David Weir re-energised the team and the Rangers supporters can look forward to this season back in the top flight with renewed hopes and ambitions.

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Rangers are back. The journey’s over but where or what have we arrived back to? What state is Scottish football in four years after kicking out its biggest and most successful club?