McGregor has one glove on Player of the Year already
Our chief football writer and Monday columnist
THERE are still another five Premiership matches not to mention a backlog of Scottish Cup games to be played, and much that can therefore happen, before the 2020/21 campaign finally reaches its conclusion.
So the individuals who are in the running for the PFA Scotland and Scottish Football Writers’ Association (SFWA) Player of the Year awards can all enjoy impressive runs of form in the remaining weeks of the season and sway their fellow professionals and the scribes to vote for them.
Who knows? James Tavernier, the Rangers captain and right-back who has been sidelined since the Europa League last-32 match against Royal Antwerp in Belgium last month, could return from injury and add to his haul of 17 goals.
Connor Goldson, his Ibrox teammate, might lead the Premiership winners to complete a league and cup double. Incredibly, the centrehalf has been on the park for every minute of every competitive fixture that Steven Gerrard’s side has been involved in the past eight months. He is, then, sure to be involved.
Elsewhere, Alfredo Morelos, who became the Govan outfit’s all-time leading European scorer in November when he netted against Benfica in a Europa League group game in Portugal, may finish with a flurry. He has been on target in seven of the nine domestic fixtures he has played in during 2021.
Perhaps Odsonne Edouard or David Turnbull, who were both quadruple treble winners in December, will thrust themselves into contention by helping Celtic to put the disappointment of missing out on 10-In-A-Row behind them and lift the Scottish Cup for a record fifth consecutive occasion.
Yet, it will take some going for any of them, or another challenger from another club, to prevent Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor from being honoured come May.
Many of the players, not just Goldson, Morelos or Tavernier, who have been to the fore as Rangers have won the Premiership for the first time since 2011 have been exceptional. Steven Davis is another whose consistency has been remarkable.
But they have still relied on McGregor to bail them out on numerous occasions. He has rarely been found wanting either at home or abroad.
The former Scotland internationalist was outstanding in the Old Firm game at Parkhead yesterday and helped the visitors record a draw which their play over the 90 minutes hardly merited. He denied Callum McGregor, Edouard and Mohamed Elyounoussi in the first half and then Edouard and Turnbull in the second.
His showing was far from a one-off. Indeed, in the last Glasgow derby in January he produced worldclass saves from Edouard and Leigh Griffiths in the opening 45 minutes as Neil Lennon’s charges dominated. His heroics ultimately ensured the runaway league leaders prevailed and delivered a huge psychological blow to their city rivals.
It was little wonder then, that Scotland manager Steve Clarke was asked last week if he had considered urging McGregor to rethink his international retirement ahead of the opening 2020 World Cup qualifiers and Euro 2020 finals.
Clarke’s response – that the 39-year-old has done so well for his club because he is no longer representing his country and he is content with David Marshall, Craig Gordon and
Jon McLaughlin – quickly killed off any talk of a comeback.
But on form the man whose late save from a Tomer Hemed shot in a Nations League match against Israel at Hampden in 2018 secured a place in the Euro 2020 playoffs, would be challenging Marshall for a starting spot.
This month he was compared to former World Cup winner Gordon Banks by Rangers great Ally McCoist when he got a hand to a Lukas Masopust header in the final minute of the Europa League last-16 match against Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic.
McGregor has always been a brilliant shot stopper. The experience he has gained over the years has resulted in him becoming a far more rounded performer. His positional play is now flawless. He is also a vocal, volatile almost, presence on the park. He has been known to give players both barrels in training if they have failed to track a run or block a cross.
Players in McGregor’s position don’t often pick up the individual gongs
His, er, communication with his back four has been an important part of their success this season. Rangers conceded only their 10th goal in the Premiership yesterday. But they could very easily have let in four or five yesterday alone had it not been for their keeper.
Players in McGregor’s position don’t often pick up the individual gongs which are handed out at the end of a campaign.
Only five goalies have received the SFWA award in its 57-year history – Ronnie Simpson (1967), Alan Rough (1981), Hamish McAlpine (1985), Andy Goram (1993) and Craig Gordon (2006 and 2015). And just two have picked up the PFA Scotland award since it was inaugurated in 1977 – Theo Snelders (1989) and Goram (1993).
McGregor, whose contributions in Old Firm games this year have been nothing short of Goramesque, wouldn’t be out of place in that illustrious company.