Italian club Palermo and Rangers have plenty in common after the former Italian Serie A side and five times Serie B winners were tossed to the lower regions of Italian football after bankruptcy.
But their financial difficulties are clearly not where the similarities end either.
The Palermo fans set a record attendance for their first match back in football as the club look to begin the climb up from Serie D.
In their first home game since restarting in the top amateur division in Italy, 17,000 fans travelled to the Stadio Renzo Barbera (capacity 37,000) to watch Palermo win 3-2 against San Tommaso.
They’ve now made it two wins from two after winning their open match 1-0 away to Marsala.
After being relegated to Serie C for “administrative irregularities” the club was declared bankrupt and eventually cast into the lowly division.
The club changed hands three times last season as financial difficulties took hold, but after successfully appealing the relegation to Serie C, the side failed to register in time for the 19/20 Serie B season.
Rangers fans are all to familiar with the long journey back from the lower depths of a nation’s footballing league system.
The Ibrox side had to climb up the division from the Scottish Third Division (now Scottish League Two) all the way to the Scottish Premiership.
In the club’s first home league game back at Ibrox after relegation, over 49,000 watched Rangers beat East Stirlingshire 5-1.
The club’s supporters never wavered during the tumultuous climb back to the top with their commitment to the cause famous in world football.
Now in their third season in the top tier, Rangers finally looked well placed to challenge the supremacy of Celtic in the country’s domestic game.
Whilst Palermo are still some way away from reaching the top tier in Italy, Rangers fans will be wishing them all the best on their journey.