Attendance 50,239
Rangers are right back where they finished off last season - at the top of the SPL - following today's 4-1 win over Falkirk at Ibrox this afternoon.
The League Champions began their defence of the crown with an injury-ravaged side that were still too strong for opponents who had contested the Scottish FA Cup Final just eleven weeks ago.
Chairman David Murray unfurled the League flag (returning to its' natural home) before kick-off in front of a capacity crowd of 50,239. To general surprise, Allan McGregor was named in goal.
It was the visitors who were first to threaten in ten minutes when Ryan Flynn's snap-shot from 25 yards was held by McGregor.
Three minutes later the opening goal arrived at the other end when Lee McCulloch found the net with a stunning thirty-yard piledriver.
Kris Boyd tested Bairns' goalkeeper Robert Olejnik in eighteen minutes when his curling effort from the edge of the box from Kenny Miller's pass was held.
Falkirk were far from out of it however - five minutes later Flynn's cross caused havoc in the home defence before the ball was eventually scrambled clear.
The warning went unheeded however - Carl Finnigan equalising in 24 minutes when he slotted the ball home from a Burton O'Brien cross following a Steve Davis error.
Rangers should have regained the lead eight minutes later when John Fleck broke through before laying the ball off to Kenny Miller only for the striker to scoop the ball wide of the target.
Miller soon made amends however when he headed the ball home from a Davis cross in 33 minutes.
It should have been three before the interval when from Miller's cross Steven Naismith was through on goal only for Olejnik to block his effort - the ball breaking to Boyd who was far too casual with the goal at his mercy, seeing his shot blocked.
Falkirk restarted in determined fashion with substitute Alex MacDonald cutting in from the left before seeing his twenty-yard drive held by McGregor, then sixty seconds later O'Brien tested the'keeper with a 25-yard shot that again was held.
Davis should have made the game safe for the Ibrox men in 62 minutes when he played a one-two with Miller before slicing his shot wide.
Nine minutes later a powerful Boyd header from a Steven Whittaker cross was clawed away by Olejnik.
Goal Number Three was merely delayed however - Miller capping a superb solo run from a Boyd pass with a cool finish in 72 minutes.
Kevin Thomson replaced Boyd four minutes later - and within seconds Fleck was testing Olejnik with a twenty-yard drive from a Davis pass.
Naismith made it 4-1 in 81 minutes when he netted from a Miller through-ball.
In the dying seconds Miller should have completed his hat-trick after Davis embarked on a mazy run that took him to the goal-line - his cutback finding the striker whose effort was somehow blocked.
Nevertheless Rangers were comfortable winners - and afterwards Manager Walter Smith commented:
"It was a good win for us. It was a great strike from Lee McCulloch for the opening goal. We were a bit scrappy in the first-half, and Falkirk were the better side at the start of the second. Our third goal took the wind out of their sails. We could have scored more but our overall play was not as good as it might have been."
RANGERS McGregor; Whittaker, Weir, Bougherra, Smith; Naismith, Davis, McCulloch, Fleck; Boyd (Thomson 76), Miller
UNUSED SUBS Aaron, Alexander, Beasley, Little, Wilson, Ness
FALKIRK Olejnik; Barr, McLean, Twaddle, Scobbie (Marceta 45); Flynn (Mitchell 85), McNamara, O'Brien, Vitor Lima (MacDonald 17), Arfield; Finnigan
UNUSED SUBS Lynch, Wagenaar, Robertson, Allison
REFEREE Mike Tumilty