I knew right away John Stones would be an England star and I’ve got the same feeling with Connor .. he’s got the mentality to be a big hit at Gers
to sign one of them! That one was Connor Goldson.
“He was 21 and it’s always a fear that if you’ve got any good young players then you’ll lose them.
“But there’s no point in them leaving unless they’re ready to play because they will go backwards in their development playing Under-23 football.
“I explained to Connor there was still a lot for him to do and we we’d give him a lot more responsibility and we made him captain.
“We told him we would put a lot of pressure on him that would be good for his development and he accepted that, settled down and got on with his football and he was fantastic.
“I worked with him for another 18 months and during that time he learned how to defend, when to step out from the back four and play with an objective.
“He made mistakes and me and the assistant manager Michael Jackson got back on the training ground and worked with him intensely.
“And when he went to Brighton he was more than ready to go. They were in the Championship and it was a comfortable step for him.”
Goldson’s ability to come through adversity is underlined by the fact he bounced back from a heart operation after a routine screening picked up a serious defect. He returned to play in the Premier League for the Seagulls and Mellon said: “To come through something like that at the age he did obviously shows you he just wants to play football and he wants to be the best he can be. “In England players are MOT’d all the time and thankfully they found out they could sort something. But he’s made a full recovery and he’ll meet the challenge of being a Rangers player head on. “I’m not going to pick Steven Gerrard’s captain but Connor is certainly captain material. Knowing the character he is, you would want him in your back four because he’s a good communicator. I can assure the Rangers fans he’ll do well.”