Rangers have confirmed a new first-team captain for the 2026/27 season, filling the vacancy left by James Tavernier’s departure at the end of his contract earlier this summer.
The armband has been handed to summer signing Lawrence Shankland. The Scotland international arrived at Ibrox in late May after a goal-laden spell at Hearts, where he captained the side under Derek McInnes last season. The pair are now reunited at Rangers, with McInnes trusting the striker to lead from the front once again.
A club statement confirmed: “Lawrence Shankland has been named as men’s first-team captain ahead of the 2026/27 season. The experienced Scotland international will succeed James Tavernier after the Hall of Fame full-back departed the club following eight years wearing the armband. The announcement comes ahead of the side’s Scottish Premiership curtain-raiser against Dundee United at Tannadice on Friday evening.”
Why Shankland?
A boyhood Rangers supporter, he first captained Hearts in 2022 and led by example through a remarkable scoring return that helped the Edinburgh club post their highest points tally in the Premiership era. He remains a regular in the Scotland set-up and featured for his country at the recent FIFA World Cup in North America.
Shankland has already made his ambitions clear. Upon joining, he said:
“I want to be one that comes here, we want to win, the club wants to be in a position where we are back winning titles regularly. I want to be a big part of that and that is what I have come here to do.
“It is an opportunity I have waited a long time for, a lot of hard graft has gone into it to get to this point. I am delighted to be here first and foremost. I want to come here and be a successful Rangers player. I think when you come to a football club, you come and have a look at the training ground. You see the memories of the trophies, the photos.
“And that’s what you want. When you leave this football club, you want to be a part of that. And make sure you leave your stamp on what you did here. So that’s all I want to do. Being a Glasgow boy, you come from normality really, working class people and obviously you get that resilience built into you from an early age. So I think I’ve always naturally had it.
“I’ve always wanted to be a footballer, but you get knocks along the way. Rangers was actually one of them when I was really young. I got released from here when I was kind of on trial for a long time. But those are the kind of things that mould you for the future. You get those learning experiences and build that resilience. I’ve always kept that.”
The new captain will lead the team out for the first time this Friday at Tannadice.
