IT was more than the first home game of the season at Ibrox.

It was the beginning of a new era and the start of Rangers on the road they hope will lead them through time from the Third Division back to the SPL.

After the most traumatic of summers and effectively, on paper at least, the formation of a new club, this was a chance for the Light Blue legions to gather in mass to show their loyalty and defiance.

The stands around the stadium were packed with just under 40,000 turning out for their Scottish Communities League Cup first-round match with East Fife. The atmosphere was more of a party than of the doom and gloom which the clubs fans have been used to over the past few months.

Mismanagement of previous owners brought the most severe ramifications possible but Ally McCoist's team are where they are and it is now time to get on with it. It is going to be a long, sometimes tedious, road. But the first steps have been taken.

The denunciation of those who chose to walk away has now been replaced with excitement for the players who have come on board to replace them with Fran Sandaza, Kevin Kyle and Emilson Cribari all following Ian Black and Dean Shiels' lead.

More, according to McCoist, will be arriving and where does the financial investment leave Charles Green in the eyes of the supporters? Is he now worthy of their full backing as he bids to take the club forward?

His consortium's purchase of the club has been met with fierce resistance from some and, at best, caution from others.

The deadline for season ticket sales has been extended yet again which would suggest many are still unconvinced.

However, SPL wages are clearly being paid not only to win back-to-back promotions while a 12-month transfer embargo is in place but also, you would imagine, to maintain the standards as best possible their supporters have become accustomed to.

So is it time for fans to unite not only behind their side but also the new chief executive?

Certainly, if this level of backing continues throughout the course of the campaign and beyond, then meeting such investments won't be an issue and the early indications have to be that Rangers are now at the early stages of their road to recovery.

Last night's convincing 4-0 win over Second Division East Fife, managed by former Ibrox striker Gordon Durie, came on the back of their 2-1 victory over Second Division Brechin City in the Ramsdens Cup.

So, despite some predicting difficult and testing times in their bid to come through the divisions, that most certainly won't be the case. Rangers will cruise it.

What won't be quite as easy is to properly gauge how well individuals within the team are performing. While some passing looked impressive you have to keep reminding yourself this is pretty much an SPL team playing.

That, of course, is the problem Scotland manager Craig Levein has in regard to calling up the likes of Lee Wallace.

Is it realistic and fair on the Ibrox full-back to expect him to go from playing the likes of Peterhead on a Saturday to Croatia the following week?

But such decisions are the problem of the respective international managers who players operate at Rangers. For McCoist, his only interest in winning matches and doing it with as he can.

When you have the likes of Lee McCulloch leading the line and central midfielder pairing of Shiels and Black, plus the likes of Wallace, Carlos Bocanegra and Dorin Goian, it shouldn't be hard.

It was McCulloch who started the ball rolling with the opener after 11 minutes and just four minutes later Shiels marked his debut with a goal and it remained that way until just a minute into the second half when Wallace slammed in the third.

McCulloch then notched his second of the evening after excellent play by Barrie McKay on a night where debuts were also given to Sandaza and Kyle.

McCoist was more than satisfied with the evening's proceedings.

"I was really pleased with everything from start to finish," said the Rangers boss. "That goes for the team, for certain individuals and also the crowd.

"The attendance was just amazing. We were talking about it before the game and I genuinely couldn't believe as many turned up. We are extremely grateful for it.

"It was a strange feeling before the game because I was really nervous as I wanted to give the fans something they were pleased to see. And I think they would have gone away happy at the performance of the team.

"We've managed to get a handful of players in and there will be more. We've still got fitness issues with some of the lads and I think we'll get better in the coming weeks.

"But we know there will be some difficult games ahead."