Allan McGregor is, and will always be a club legend, but, as he approaches his 40th birthday in January, there are just starting to be signs that his formidable powers are on the wane.
Now, it may be confirmation bias in that, because of his age, we are scrutinising him closer than ever before but, with Jon McLaughlin playing more regularly this season, there are question marks hanging over the Gers number one’s head.
There are two very specific incidents that can be compared.
Against Dundee, 2-1 up, under pressure and defending an injury time corner McLaughlin commanded his six-yard box, claimed the ball and won a free-kick in the process – against Hearts, McGregor came, missed and conceded in the 90th minute to see us drop two points.
We have also seen, in almost every game, how comfortable McLaughlin is coming off his line and out of his box to sweep up behind his defence, against Motherwell, McGregor could have played a bigger role in preventing the corner that led to their goal if he had a higher starting position – despite a good initial save, he didn’t exactly cover himself in glory at the rebound either, losing a goal at his near post with the ball just a yard off the byline isn’t acceptable, a younger McGregor would have dived at Bevis Mugabi’s feet.
I think the fact that we have seen such rotation in the position points to a gradual changing of the guard, be it for reasons of form or fitness – the problem that Allan McGregor has though is that his standards have been so high, so any drop off at all will be noticeable, if it becomes a habit, he might spend his final months as a Rangers player watching from the bench.