Rangers have expressed their “immense frustration” at new restrictions on crowds.

The champions broke their silence on Tuesday’s Scottish Government announcement to update supporters on plans for their Boxing Day encounter against St Mirren at Ibrox.

Rangers and Ross County were the only two cinch Premiership clubs who wanted all the festive fixtures to go ahead amid new rules limiting outdoor events to 500 spectators as the Scottish Government bids to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The Scottish Professional Football League board, which includes Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson, ultimately decided to go ahead with Boxing Day games and postpone the following two fixtures until January and February.

A club statement read: “Rangers Football Club notes the recent announcement made by the First Minister, which will severely reduce the number of supporters able to access Ibrox Stadium for our Boxing Day fixture with St Mirren.

“This match will go ahead following discussions with fellow SPFL clubs in recent days.

“We share the immense frustration of our loyal fans, who would have ensured the match would have been a sell-out, however, we will now only be able to welcome a miniscule proportion of that proposed crowd to the stadium.

“A ballot will be held to ensure an extremely limited number of our season ticket holders will be able to attend the match, with those successful notified at the earliest opportunity.

“For those season ticket holders and hospitality clients unable to attend, the match will be shown live at no additional cost on RangersTV.”