Having had a bit of a whirlwind week during the build-up to the William Hill Premiership match against Celtic at Ibrox yesterday afternoon, it was probably no great surprise that new Rangers striker Bojan Miovski failed to net.
The North Macedonian striker flew from Spain to France to undergo a medical and apply for his visa. When his £4.2m transfer received the all clear from the authorities, he jetted to Scotland. He arrived in Glasgow on Saturday and had a single training session with his new team mates at Auchenhowie before being parachuted into to the starting line-up.
Miovski worked hard from kick-off, had an appeal for an early penalty waved away by referee Don Robertson and probed the visitors’ defence tirelessly for an opening until being replaced by Cyriel Dessers midway through the second half.
However, the 26-year-old, who scored 44 goals in all competitions during the two seasons that he spent in Aberdeen and became a darling of the Pittodrie support, was unable to break the deadlock and the first derby of the 2025/26 finished 0-0 after 90 turgid minutes.
Speaking before heading off to join up with North Macedonia for their World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein in Skopje, he predicted that it will not take long for him to find the form up front which he displayed during his previous stint in Scotland.
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He talked enthusiastically about the changes which are happening at Rangers under Russell Martin and their new owners and pledged to score the goals which help the Govan giants to win domestic silverware. He anticipates that more, much more, is to come from both him and his new club in the months and seasons ahead.
"It was a busy three, four days for me,” he said. "I was in Paris sorting my visa. Then I travelled to Glasgow. It was a crazy week for me, but I'm happy that I'm here. My debut yesterday? I think we show good character from the team. I think we will just be better and better.
"I didn't have a great time in Girona, but I didn't want to move just to move from there. I want a project so I can keep going in my career and Rangers was a great project for me, to come and play here.
"Girona had very hard season in Spain. We almost got relegated, we didn't play good football. I think as a team we were disappointed. We had a really bad season. I only played 20 per cent of the games in all competitions. We strikers didn't get the right service and we struggled on this point. But I move forward."
"I arrived here on Saturday and went straight from the airport to the training. It was hard, but I give it my best. I feel that we as a team can be better and better because we showed that we are a team.
"What do I want to do here? To help the team, to score goals, of course, to win trophies because in this team we need to always fight for the trophies. Here, if you don't win trophies, it is disappointing season for everyone. So I know that it is a lot of pressure here.
"Of course (he thinks Rangers can do that this season), this is why I came. So I have big ambitions and the club have big ambitions personally. So I'm here to help the team. We are all together as a team. We are winning together, we are losing together, we are a team."
Rangers supporters demanded that Martin be sacked last week after Rangers, who had been held to draws by Motherwell, Dundee and St Mirren in their opening three Premiership matches, were thrashed 6-0 away by Club Brugge in Belgium and failed to reach the Champions League league phase for the first time.
The forward, though, has been encouraged by the chats he has had with the former MK Dons, Swansea City and Southampton manager and is confident that he will enjoy working under him. "To be honest, I didn't read social media,” he said. “I am a player. I spoke with the coach, he had a great feeling about me, he already knew me from two, three years ago. So I am looking forward to it."
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Rangers, who have accepted a £4.2m offer from Panathinaikos in Greece for Dessers, are set to increase their options in attack before the summer transfer window closes at 11pm tonight by landing Youssef Chermiti from Everton for £8m. Miovski confirmed that he had received no assurances he would start when he joined. "If you perform well, you will play, if you don't play well, you won’t,” he said. “It's simple."
Asked how big he felt the gap between Rangers, who remain in seventh spot in the Premiership table after their derby draw, and defending champions and top flight leaders Celtic is, the player said, "It's too early. It's only four games in the league. So it's a lot of games to play. So, of course, we are here. But it's no big difference."
Many of those inside Ibrox yesterday felt that Rangers should have been awarded a spot kick when Miovski went to ground following a challenge by Celtic centre-half Liam Scales in the sixth minute. So what did the player himself think?
"I feel that he touched me on my right leg,” he said. “So this is why I fell down because I think I was in front of him. So he didn't see me because I come from behind him. But it is for the referee to decide and we move forward."
