THERE is, for a change, a guarantee for the fans that head to Ibrox for the Legends game this afternoon. For once, they know they will see a Rangers win.

Two teams of Gers heroes from through the years will pull on their boots once again in a match to raise funds for the Rangers Charity Foundation and the Rangers Youth Development Company.

The sight of Walter Smith in the dugout, of the likes of Andy Goram, Lorenzo Amoruso, Jorg Albertz and Michael Mols on the park, will bring back fond memories for the Light Blue legions.

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And there is no doubt that the Govan crowd need a bit of relief this season. Home has been where the hurt is for Rangers.

Week after week, game after game, supporters have taken their seats in expectation. On too many occasions, they have been let down by those they have paid to come and see them in action.

The defeat to Kilmarnock last weekend was Rangers’ seventh home loss of the campaign and it earned Graeme Murty’s side their own unwanted place in the history books.

Having equalled the barren run of the 1914/15 season, Murty and his players will now be anxious to avoid the ignominious eight when they play their remaining home fixtures this term.

Dundee are the visitors a week on Saturday in what is the final game before the Premiership split and it remains to be seen who will make the trip to Govan between now and the end of term. Whoever it is, they are unlikely to travel in trepidation.

For many opposition teams, the fear factor has been replaced by a feelgood factor when they play at Ibrox. The task is still stern, but it is not as difficult as it once was.

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Any side that has aspirations of challenging for the title must be ruthless and reliable on their own patch, yet Rangers have been anything but in recent months as performance levels have fluctuated and points have slipped away all too regularly.

The seven defeats – two to Celtic, two to Hibernian and one to Hamilton, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock – have ensured Rangers have never been serious silverware hopefuls. Come the final reckoning, they could prove costly in their bid to be best of the rest as well.

Every season has a degree of ifs, buts and maybes about it come the final reckoning and Gers fans won’t want to ponder for too long just how different things could have been this term if they had done what was expected of them at Ibrox.

The circumstances in each match, and the reasons they were lost, are different but the overall picture doesn’t make pleasant viewing for Rangers or a manager that is coming to the end of the longest job interview in Ibrox history.

There are moments, like the wrong decision to send off Ryan Jack in the meeting with Hibernian in August or the reaction to Jozo Simunovic’s red card a couple of weeks ago, that have defined some of the defeats.

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But those against Accies, St Johnstone and Killie share similar characteristics as Murty’s side produced turgid displays against opposition that they are rightly expected to dispatch of.

When the onus is on Rangers to set the tempo, to attack and to create, to dominate and score goals, this side are found wanting too often. Whether that is a physical, tactical or mental flaw, only Murty and his players will know.

It will be a source of consternation for Murty, and of concern for the Gers board, that Rangers can record wins away to Hearts, Hibernian and Aberdeen and turn in a battling performance at Parkhead but somehow fail to reach those heights at home.

It has often been said that it is easier to play against Rangers than it is to play for Rangers and the pressure, demands and expectation can take their toll on those who fall short in both ability and character.

When Rangers are on the road, the players seem to feed off the vocal and several thousand strong travelling support. When they are behind enemy lines, they can come out firing.

Read more: Rangers: The seven games that have been lost at Ibrox

It is a different story at Ibrox, however. There have been times this term when the volume has been turned up full blast but the atmosphere overall is more reactive than proactive.

The roars of celebration are there, but there is often little encouragement from the majority. If the crowd don’t get the players going, the players struggle to get the crowd going.

Most of the squad that Murty has at his disposal have been around the club or the game long enough to know what to expect, though, and Rangers should be equipped to handle the challenge of meeting the demands from the stand.

If they are to have any chance of success next term, their form at home must change and the games against sides lower down the table must be won more routinely than they have been over the last two seasons.

The blueprint – no matter who the manager is or the players are – remains the same for Rangers as they finally look to mount a serious challenge for the Premiership silverware.

Only then will the current crop have a chance of making history for all the right reasons and a shot at becoming Ibrox heroes in their own right.