When Allan McGregor came off the bench against Hearts in the 119th minute of the Scottish Cup final, it’s safe to assume that it was seen as a final farewell, an opportunity afforded to one of our all time greats by the man in line to replace him, however, it hasn’t quite worked out like that.
In his 30 games, Jon McLaughlin has done little wrong and has been an outstanding ambassador for the club both on and off the pitch, he has 21 clean sheets in these appearances and lost just once, against Dundee United at the beginning of this season when Steven Gerrard had yet to decide who his number one was.
Alan Hutton as a former team-mate and a friend of McGregor’s is well placed to comment on the goalkeeping situation at Rangers and doesn’t think that the current incumbent will have it his own way in what will be an intriguing battle for a starting role, as told to Football Insider:
“There’s going to be competition there.
“Jon McLaughlin signed a new deal, McGregor signed a new deal which is obviously good for the club.
“They’ve pushed each other all the way all of last season as well, even though McGregor was number one.
“So I think the manager will put it down to them that they’ll have to go and prove their worth, show what they’re all about.
“I think whoever grabs that opportunity within preseason will be number one next season.”
McLaughlin has earned the right to put pressure on McGregor and be given the chance to take over, yes, he would even admit himself that he isn’t on the 40-year old’s level in terms of his peak but he isn’t at his peak anymore and there were clear signs of a drop off in standards last year, especially domestically.
As we saw towards the end of the season when he was given more game time, McLaughlin is comfortable with the ball at his feet, is happy to play higher up the pitch rather than being stuck to his goal line and will command his penalty area at set-pieces and crosses, qualities that are infinitely more useful in the Scottish Premiership given the tactics of those we play most weeks.
McGregor shouldn’t be totally written off though but in a pre-season that has games against West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, I’d like to think that McLaughlin will be given the chance to show that he is more than just a safe pair of hands and can be trusted to be the first name on the team sheet every week.