Charlie McCann’s move to Forest Green Rovers in England’s League 1 has been confirmed this afternoon.
It is something of a surprise move but the Northern Ireland squad member will now ply his trade for the Gloucester club who are in the midst of a relegation battle to stave off the threat of falling through the trap door into the fourth tier for next season.
That won’t be an attractive prospect for McCann but it appears he has weighed up that risk against the reward of competitive, first team football on a regular basis – essentially to play every week – which just wasn’t going to be possible at Ibrox.
He is known to have been a player that Michael Beale likes with talk of a new contract offered to the former Manchester United youth but the restless McCann has obviously not been content on the fringes of the squad at Rangers. His most recent appearance came late in the League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, following on from two earlier appearances off the bench in the same competition. That brief outing at Hampden would turn out to be his only exposure under Beale, whilst he played the duration of the Dundee United game in the league, back in September under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
McCann, 20, is said to have signed a three and a half year deal at the New Lawn Stadium in a deal said to be worth an initial £350, 000 to Rangers.
We are delighted to announce the signing of highly-rated midfielder Charlie McCann on a long-term deal from @RangersFC📝#WeAreFGR💚
— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) January 24, 2023
On his move to the green, vegan club, he stated:
“It feels great to have signed. I’m delighted to get it over the line and I can’t wait to get started.”
“Hopefully I can start getting minutes under my belt very soon.”
There will be a feeling of ‘what if’ on this one. McCann possibly could have had some more game time, whilst he was possibly to eager to move on for regular first team game time, but you can’t blame a player for wanting to get out on the pitch for real, week after week. As well as that, the task at Ibrox is a formidable one and McCann would have assessed his realistic chances of breaking through, especially with the potential deal for Nicolas Raskin this month with other midfielders likely to arrive in the Summer transfer window.
The response from Michael Beale on this move will be very intriguing.