Rangers have been linked with a host of goalkeepers this summer ranging from England internationals to others less well known on the continent, however, after Allan McGregor signed a one-year deal, the chances of any new arrivals diminished significantly.
Much of the talk before our first game of the season would be who would start between the sticks and when Giovanni van Bronckhorst went with Jon McLaughlin, it was clear that a game plan had been decided upon based on playing out from the back.
It’s not a bad position to be in because they are both good keepers, if McLaughlin can be questioned about the first goal against Union Saint-Gilloise, despite the deflection off Connor Goldson, he made up for it with later saves that prevented us being three or even four goals behind going into the second leg.
McGregor has spoken in the past about not wanting to be rotated and will be frustrated at having to sit on the bench at this stage of his career, a thought echoed by friend and former Gers team-mate, Alan Hutton, as told to Football Insider:
“He wants to play week in, week out. Age is just a number to him. He’s 40 years of age, he’s still signed a contract so he believes that he can play.
“He’ll be hurt at this moment in time because probably in the back of his mind he would have thought he would have been number one. It’s not worked out that way.
“The one thing I do know about him is he’s very professional in what he does. He’ll be training hard he’ll be working hard to prove to the manager that he’s ready when called upon.“
Every manager has praised McGregor’s professionalism in that he is the first in and last out of the training centre every day, there is a reason he is still playing elite level football at his age despite having some serious injuries in his career.
As with any player, he won’t be happy about being on the bench, however, on top of the mistakes he made last season, he simply isn’t as good a passer of the ball as McLaughlin – even if one or two might go astray.
McGregor will get game time at some point this season either in the cup games or if McLaughlin has a dip in form. They might be different stylistically but there’s nothing we should be concerned about, both are a safe pair of hands, whoever Gio goes with – it’s just that the elder statesman might have to bide his time until he gets his chance.