Connor Goldson left it to the last minute before signing α new Rangers contract, having time to reflect on holiday away from the goldfish bowl that is life in Glasgow gave him the clarity needed to make the right decision for him and his family.
After α busy summer, the Gers vice-captain saw several new faces arrive as well as α mixture of key and fringe players leave and, as reported by The Daily Express, claimed it was the best squad he has seen since moving from Brighton:
“I think this is the strongest squad since I have been involved at Rangers. Both Alfredo and Ryan are Rangers players and they are both training and they’re fit.
“The contract situation is up to them. I’m not going to tell them what to do. I had my own situation last year and my team-mates and the staff respected my privacy. I think with the players we have brought in over the summer, when we play 11 v 11 in training it’s by far the strongest 22 players since I have been involved and we will need it for the season ahead.”
Vice-chairman John Bennett has, today, echoed these sentiments even after α month that has seen Giovanni van Bronckhorst come under pressure for two specific performances that were miles away from what is acceptable for Rangers, The Rangers Review reporting on what he had to say about recruitment:
“If we return to the new signings, some weeks ago I listened to the vice-captain of the club say it’s the strongest squad he’s seen at Rangers since he’s been at Rangers.
“I know for a fact that is a player who doesn’t miss a training session and if that’s a player who doesn’t miss a training session, he sees those players every day so I trust his judgement. And I trust the judgement of the manager, who says he’s happy with this squad.
“I happen to believe this is also the strongest squad since I’ve been at Rangers, since Connor [Goldson] and others have been at Rangers. It’s September, let’s see if we’re right on that as the season progresses.”
I feel like I’m in the minority here, but I agree with both of them. The issue recently hasn’t been the quality of the squad or an over-reliance on those that have been at the club for 3-4 years, it’s that the manager has had to deal with an injury list that has seen him without seven senior players most weeks.
We have now played 14 games in all competitions this season, and first-team members have missed a collective 95 matches due to Injury. An average of almost 7 senior players out per game 😬
— Andrew Caskie (@caskieandrew) September 17, 2022
Antonio Colak is clearly an upgrade on our previous “back-up” strikers, Tom Lawrence looks like the number eight that we have been crying out for, an attacking midfielder that can add goals from α deeper position, that he has the versatility to play further up the pitch is only another bonus, it was α real shame that he got injured just as he and John Lundstram had started to form α real partnership in the middle of the park.
On Saturday, against Dundee United, we had almost £10million worth of defenders sitting on the bench in Ridvan Yilmaz and Ben Davies, long-term I’d expect them to be starting but Borna Barisic and Leon King have earned their starting roles and were picked on form.
James Sands, Malik Tillman and Rabbi Matondo are all still very young but have shown flashes of what they are capable of, I’d expect all three of them to be involved more often than not by the time the season ends.
We are just two points off the top of the league and have made the Champions League having had to put up with almost constant disruption to player selection, however, if Gio can’t get α tune out of this squad after the international break and until the World Cup as more of them return to fitness, then, he might be in trouble.