McGregor extends his Ibrox deal
ALLAN McGREGOR yesterday signed a new one-year contract extension at Rangers and admitted his life had been taken over by the club’s pursuit of the league title. The goalkeeper will play on at Ibrox beyond his 40th birthday after finalising terms on another season under Steven Gerrard’s management. McGregor has been in outstanding form during the current campaign and was a key influence in Rangers last month securing their first Premiership
crown in a decade. The 39-year-old won three titles during his first spell at Ibrox, but admitted restoring the club to prominence had been an obsession since he returned in 2018.
‘It was monumental,’ McGregor said of this season’s success.
‘Obviously I know a lot of Rangers fans all over the world and just what it means to them over the last long period of time not to have won anything.
‘To me as well and all the boys in here, I know what it meant to them, and the manager and all the staff and everybody in the club. It was a massive occasion.
‘It didn’t give me a new hunger, I have always been hungry. I thought about that day for the last two-anda-half or three years.
‘It has maybe overtaken my life a wee bit and I thought about it too much actually. I don’t know if that is healthy or not. But we have done it and it was a special occasion.
‘It has got to give you confidence. It is not going to send you in the other direction. To experience that and what it means to everybody, and experience that as a group when you win something, that has got to give you confidence and push you on for more and have more success.’
After reaching the last-16 of the Europa League for a second successive season, McGregor hopes Rangers can transfer their impressive form under Gerrard into the continent’s premier tournament next term.
‘It is great to try and play in the Champions League again,’ he told Rangers TV. ‘It would be great, especially at my age. It would be great for the club and put us right back on the map in Europe. It will be difficult, don’t get me wrong, but the chance is there for us.’
The 39-year-old claims it was a simple decision in the end to extend his stay at a club he regards as ‘home’.
‘I didn’t really need convincing,’ he said of the contract talks.
‘It was more that my body felt okay, my performances seemed okay. So, why not?
‘I think throughout your career you pick up advice, whether that is physios, whether it is nutritionists, coaches, and every wee bit of that helps.
‘You take a bit of everything and use it to the best of what suits you. That is what I have been doing and it has been going okay.
‘Maybe because I was here from such a young age, you get to love the place, you feel you are home.
‘You know everybody that works here. I just feel like it is my home. There is no other way to describe it.’
Gerrard had made clear his wish for McGregor to remain and argues that the goalkeeper is now firmly established as one of the best in the club’s history.
‘I am delighted to have secured the services of Allan for another season and he has been outstanding for me since I arrived in 2018,’ said the Ibrox manager.
‘Some of the saves he has produced have been world class. To be able to continue playing at this level until his late thirties and hopefully into his forties is a magnificent achievement in itself.
‘However, being able to consistently perform at the level he has done has highlighted that he is certainly up there with one of Rangers’ best ever number ones.’