Andy Goram is probably the only player that, if you aren’t old enough to have seen him play, you just accept it when someone who has, tells you that he is the best there has ever been.
There are Rangers players who had greater consistency over a longer period of time, or had longer careers at Ibrox with more trophies in their personal collection but what can’t be argued is that The Goalie could, for several periods, claim to be the best in the world – a claim only he could make.
Players like Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne were special talents but I don’t think that they could ever be put on the same pedestal in terms of being at the top of the tree in their respective positions, they were clearly, at times though, world class performers but there is a difference.
I’ll be honest though, if Allan McGregor had won the league last season and even more so, the Europa League, I might have considered putting him above Goram in my all-time rankings, however, mistakes domestically cost us dearly, such is the life of a goalkeeper and it’s one that they sign up for.
And that’s the thing. It’s totally subjective, my favourite Rangers keeper is Chris Woods because he was the first “proper” goalie that I idolised and he was an incredible stopper in his own right, a record breaking one no less, but for all his greatness, his peak was never as high as Goram’s.
Goram, in many ways and by his own admission, was a flawed man much in the same way as his former team-mate Gascoigne was but, for 90 minutes every week, they shared something else in common – genius.
His positioning had to be perfect because he was under 6ft tall and it usually was, he made saves that he had no right to make because of how quickly he could get across his goal. If his height was an occasional issue coming through a crowd for crosses, it was a strength when facing opposition strikers one v one, he could get down quicker than his taller counter parts and made the extraordinary look, well, ordinary and routine.
A good goalkeeper won’t cost you points, a great goalkeeper will win you games, Andy Goram won us trophies and titles.