FLIGHT FOR SORE EYES
Gers punters left shocked at airport as Gerrard and star turns are no-shows
A STRANGE old morning at Glasgow Airport.
For a start, the sun was splitting the sky and it was sweltering. The scattering of punters heading for supposedly sunnier climes didn’t look too chuffed about that.
Then there was the bevy of snappers hanging around waiting for the Rangers bus to arrive.
For once the focus was on who they wouldn’t be taking photos of as the players and coaching staff got off what turned out to be three coaches, which arrived in convoy at the front of the departures terminal.
Since Tuesday night’s announcement there have been Covid issues at the club, the rumour mill had gone into overdrive about who would and would not be available for yesterday’s near six-hour trip to Armenia.
And, of course, how it would affect preparation plus team selection for Sunday’s first Old Firm game of the season at Ibrox.
It took about 30 seconds to realise the impact was a significant one and none more so than the sight of Gary McAllister being first off the front bus, with Steven Gerrard nowhere to be seen.
So, the manager was ruled out and Gary Mac would be calling the shots from the sidelines aided by Michael Beale, spotted coming off a coach soon afterwards.
That’s a significant plus in a difficult situation as Gerrard has often acknowledged how heavily involved Beale is on the tactical side.
Each coach – the wheeled variety – revealed its contents and it soon became apparent that, while there were significant absentees, there were still more than enough unaffected for McAllister to name a strong starting XI tonight. The goalkeeping situation is a concern with Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin nowhere to be seen. But that one wasn’t entirely unexpected. When McLaughlin wasn’t named in the Scotland squad on Tuesday due to what Steve Clarke said was a “little issue”, coupled with his absence in Dingwall on Sunday, it looked likely he wouldn’t be flying to Yerevan. And as keepers tend to stick together, there was always the chance McGregor wouldn’t be there either. That leaves Robby McCrorie in goal.
While he may be a rookie in Rangers terms, this 23year-old has more than 100 senior games behind him from various loans, including in the Premiership with Livingston, so he shouldn’t be quaking in his boots.
The sight of Connor Goldson, Filip Helander and Leon Balogun walking through the terminal doors – and Goldson doing so alongside Nathan Patterson while Borna Barisic was up ahead of them – meant there was a solid defensive unit available despite the nonappearance of captain James Tavernier and Calvin Bassey.
Joe Aribo, Steven Davis, Glen Kamara and Scott Arfield, masked up as all their team-mates were, soon allayed supporters’ fears the midfield had been decimated.
A couple of Rangers fans among those milling around were relieved to see Alfredo Morelos climb off the first bus.
He might have been masked up and his cap pulled down over his eyes but there was still a thumbs up from the Colombian in response to their cheers.
It was the same story with Ianis Hagi, one of the last players to appear off the third coach, basketball cap back to front and another big thumbs up, this time for the cameras.
A clutch of kids, such as highly-rated B team midfielder Alex Lowry, joined the experienced players on the flight and will be on the bench.
But even without Tavernier, McGregor, McLaughlin, Bassey and Scott Wright – coupled with suspended duo John Lundstram and Kemar Roofe – Rangers will feel a team of McCrorie, Patterson, Goldson, Helander/Balogun, Barisic, Arfield, Davis, Kamara, Hagi, Morelos and Aribo is more than capable of getting the job done against a stuffy but limited Alashkert outfit that failed to lay a glove on them last week.
This despite having a man advantage for more than 45 minutes after Lundstram’s red.
Then and only then will Rangers look at the visit of Celtic. That will be a different prospect but they’ll only go into that game feeling good about themselves if they get the job done in Europe first.