McGregor welcomes the extra competition from McLaughlin at Rangers
ALLAN McGREGOR is preparing for another season between the sticks as Rangers’ No.1 – but he will always embrace the challenge of talented goalkeepers arriving at Ibrox.
Former Hearts keeper Jon McLaughlin made the move to Steven Gerrard’s side this summer after being released from Sunderland and McGregor reckons the Scotland keeper will be a welcome addition to the Govan side.
On what McLaughlin adds, McGregor (below) said: “Good quality, experience, and more competition. I’m not saying there wasn’t any competition last year but it’s the same every year – there are two, three or even four goalkeepers at big clubs who can play, and it has been like that for as far as I can remember.
“I go out every day in training and try my best, or go out in a game and try my best. I don’t think about anything else really, which I suppose is a good thing.
“If you keep worrying about other things, you’ll probably not do your best.”
Another talented stopper of recent times for the Glasgow club has been Robbie McCrorie, who will once again spend the season on-loan at Livingston in the Scottish Premiership.
McGregor has worked alongside the 22-year-old, who recently penned a new Ibrox deal, since his first spell at Rangers in 2012 and he believes that McCrorie has a big future ahead of him for both club and country.
He continued: “I am sure he will do really well this season. I remember my first training session with him, and I thought, ‘he looks decent’, and he has just kept slowly progressing and progressing, and it is good he is going out to get these games.
“I think you have got to have ambition and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think there is every chance [of a Scotland call-up] if he does well.
“I remember Liam Kelly when he was playing there, he was tipped for Scotland squads and big Zander [Clark] at St Johnstone was getting tipped, so I don’t see any reason why he can’t.” Meanwhile, McCrorie has been urged to look no further than predecessor Kelly in his bid to make it big thanks to Livingston. McCrorie will fight it out with former Sunderland goalie Max Stryjek for the number one spot after the Poland under-21 cap penned a three-year deal earlier this month.
And both have been told they have the perfect example of what can happen for them at
Almondvale after Kelly made his loan from Rangers a permanent switch before impressing enough to earn a Scotland call-up and move to QPR last summer.
Livi goalkeeping coach Tony Caig, the former Hibs, Gretna and Carlisle player, said: “Robby had come in and had just got started and playing well for us when the coronavirus came along and put a halt to that.
“But we always felt that if we could have a chance of getting him back it would be something we’d look into, and things developed quite well.
“He signed his new deal at Rangers and they felt it was a good place for him to come and play, and he wanted to come back here, so we were glad to make that happen.
“Robby realises this is the next step in his progression. He’s come right through the academy at Rangers and had different loan spells at different levels.
“He realises he needs to get a number of games at this level before he could go back to Rangers and really compete to be in their first two goalkeepers.
“So, it’s a natural step for him, it’s the next step for him, but he understands he needs to play well to make the things go right for him after this.”
Kelly joined Livi in League One four years ago before returning to them on a permanent basis in 2018 and then 12 months later making the switch to QPR for an undisclosed fee.
Caig added: “We’ve got a blueprint, in that sense. Liam came to us and did excellently for us, and he kicked on and got a move down to the English Championship.”