So confident were many of the Light Blue legions that their team would not drop any points in their league campaign this season they were putting their money on Ally McCoist successfully leading his team to title glory with a 100% record from start to finish.
But those aspirations were undone on day one of their challenge to work their way through the lower leagues as they were held to a 2-2 draw away to Peterhead.
Now some will tell you this is proof this campaign will be a lot tougher than most envisage, but that is nonsense. The Ibrox club will win the Third Division title and they'll win it by as convincing a margin as Celtic will win the SPL.
What the 90 minutes at Peterhead did prove was if the Rangers players don't take their opposition seriously enough then life will be so much harder than it should be. That was the problem at the weekend – nothing more, nothing less.
As much as Jim McInally's side were well organised and worked hard from the first whistle to the last, they should not have been able to live with Rangers' line-up. This should have been a convincing victory for McCoist's men.
The reason it was not pretty much comes down to the fact the attitude and application was not what it should have been. Yes, players can have a bad day at the office and that does not always mean they are not applying themselves properly.
But when you see Kirk Broadfoot turning in the sloppy performance he produced at the weekend with Dorin Goian every bit as bad, not to mention captain Carlos Bocanegra all over the place, then it only goes to highlight just how slipshod Gers were.
These are three guys who have played international football. Bocanegra is the skipper of the USA national team yet he found himself struggling to cope with the Peterhead strikeforce and that tells you everything you need to know.
The performance in midfield wasn't that much better. Ian Black has found himself called up to the Scotland squad, but Craig Levein obviously did not manage to take in this game because the little midfielder was average to say the least.
It was the same for Dean Shiels. These are guys who were the best players at their respective clubs last season, Hearts and Kilmarnock, and they should be standing out like sore thumbs at this level.
So should Lee Wallace. The same goes for Lee McCulloch. In fact, just about every player should be head and shoulders above their opponents in the league. They should be winning games by a convincing margin both home and away.
And if they do not, the supporters will not accept the excuse that their opponents worked extremely hard and made life so much difficult for them. Their opponents all hold down normal jobs when McCoist is putting them through their paces at Murray Park.
Their opponents earn a fraction of what they are earning at Rangers and to draw the first league match was nothing short of embarrassing.
McCoist, as you would imagine, was far from happy with the way the guys at the back performed and did not miss them.
He said: "Peterhead are the only ones that deserve any plaudits. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with the way we defended second half.
"I did say to the players after the game that if any of them thought they were going to turn up and pick up points without going through any hard work then that might just be a rude awakening. Overall, I'm a bit shocked at how we defended.
"I would hope if there was a lesson needing to be learned then this was it.
"In the second half there was a lot more desire from their front players to score than there was to keep them out from our lads."
Now the one thing you can be assured is the Rangers players would have been well drilled on what to expect at Peterhead. McCoist has been about Scottish football long enough to know trips to such places are often anything but a stroll in the park.
When teenager Barrie McKay opened the scoring, Rangers must have expected to add a few more but there were signs of sloppiness at the back and that was very much the case as Rory McAllister turned Bocanegra inside-out before slotting home the equaliser.
Worse was to come when Scott McLaughlin fired his team into a surprise lead and the fact of the matter is it was not completely against the run of play. Peterhead were giving as good as they were getting, even in the latter stages when Gers' fitness levels should have made a huge difference.
In the end, a tap-in from Andy Little after Kevin Kyle's header hit the woodwork salvaged a point for Rangers.
It was a result no-one could have predicted. It was a result and performance McCoist will not stand for again.
