Even if I’d kept a clean sheet, scored a hat-trick and saved a few penalties against Stranraer, I still wouldn’t get a game next week!
ONE fatal flaw has cost Wes Foderingham the Rangers career he craves. Not being Allan McGregor. The Englishman hadn’t done a great deal wrong as he proved a clever free capture from Swindon and was one of the few Mark Warburton signings to handle the step up to Premiership grade.
He snubbed interest from England in the close season of 2017 to pen a new contract as the firmly established first-choice goalkeeper.
Even when Rangers were shipping three or four goals to Celtic in defeat, the serious problems lay elsewhere in a dysfunctional unit.
In fact, his performances frequently merited man-of-thematch honours.
Yet Foderingham effectively went from No1 to no one in the summer of 2018.
The moment returning hero McGregor strolled back into the club on a free transfer, the then Scotland international raised the bar in experience, quality and big-game mentality.
And the deflating truth for Foderingham was that, for all his fine efforts, often outstanding
form and admirable professionalism, he couldn’t muster much of a complaint about that.
By the time McGregor produced a string of trademark stops in the surprise Europa League run of the opening weeks of Steven Gerrard’s reign, Foderingham’s immediate future in his shadow was sealed.
With Rangers back competing for trophies, the need for a high-class understudy was essential and that meant Foderingham stayed put.
The 29-year-old steps in when McGregor serves his occasional suspensions and Rangers are expected to knock out minnows from cup tournaments.
His Friday night against Stranraer wasn’t much more of a workout than his customary league date afternoons on the bench, with the League One side out of their depth, defending deep and losing 2-0.
So, even on nights when he can start for Rangers, the feeling that he is midway through the second of two lost seasons of his professional life is hard to escape.
‘Even if I had kept a clean sheet, scored a hat-trick and saved a few penalties against Stranraer, I’m still not going to get a game next week,’ conceded Foderingham.
He would, however, be guaranteed a game if anything was to befall McGregor as Rangers hunt down Celtic in the title race, look to reach their second domestic cup final of the season and advance in the Europa League.
With all those dates in the diary, the most able of deputies is required to stick around.
There was never any doubt McGregor, who turns 38 at the end of this month, would accept the offer of a further year on his contract.
The ‘informal talks’ — as Foderingham describes them — that he has undertaken with the club suggest that Rangers are keen for his arrangement to be extended.
No wonder. He is as talented and reliable an understudy as could be hoped for.
However, feeling redundant and being thrown a bone every now and again, the Englishman admits that he has found much of the last 18 months unsatisfying.
When asked if he felt like he had lost two years of his career, he replied: ‘Definitely. I’d say so. It’s difficult to look at it any other way, to be honest.
‘I’ve enjoyed the past couple of seasons and we have had relative success.
‘The club has moved forward and is in a better position now. But, ultimately, those two years could have been better spent.
‘If you’re not playing the majority of the games — and I’m sure most people will say the same thing — you feel a part of it but, at the same time, you don’t feel a part of it.
‘Although you’re not playing, you still enjoy the fact that the club is doing well, progressing in Europe — you still feel that job as part of the squad.
‘It’s a different feeling when you’re playing, though. You have an impact and you’re out there making a difference.
‘It has been very frustrating and I find it difficult, I won’t lie to you. Greegsy has been playing so well, he has been very consistent.
‘He hasn’t given me a chance to get back and the gaffer has a job to do, to pick a team.
‘When I’m picked, I do the best I can and I work hard in training. That’s all I can really do.’
The Scottish Cup fourth-round win, thanks to goals from Scott Arfield and a Jermain Defoe penalty, was Foderingham’s fifth appearance of the season. He started against St Joseph’s of Gibraltar and East Fife in the Betfred Cup plus two league games against Kilmarnock and Ross County.
He added: ‘I don’t think I’ve had many shots to save in the matches I’ve played.
‘Stranraer was one of those games where, as a goalkeeper, you just have to stay focused, concentrate, make sure you distribute the ball at the back quickly.
‘Having not played for a little while, you want to be back out there and you also want a little bit to do.
‘Unfortunately, it was one of those games where there wasn’t much to do but it was good to get back out there playing again.
‘When you’re waiting for a chance, going three or four months without playing, and then get a game where there’s not much to do, it’s hard to mount a challenge to get into the team.’
Foderingham’s contract expires at the end of this season, paving the way for him to pick the best next stage for him to sample regular
football.
It won’t be as attractive a club as Rangers and he will hope to be around to savour a potentially historic period if the next few months bring championship glory back to Ibrox.
However, the calculated decision to look after his own interests can only lead Foderingham in the direction of the exit door come the end of May.
When asked if he’d accepted his fate, he said: ‘Of course. My deal is
Greegsy has been very consistent. It is frustrating for me, I won’t lie I’ve not had very many shots to save in the games I’ve played
up in the summer. I’ve had informal talks with the club but, ultimately, I want to play. I think we’ll get this (transfer) window out of the way and see where we are. Read into that what you will.
‘The club know my position and I think we’ll need to have another discussion.
‘It looks like I’m going to be here until the end of the season at least and we’ll take it from there.
‘I’d been used to playing ever since I got into professional football at 19 and I enjoy playing, so that’s what I want to be doing.
‘It’s the first time in my career where I’ve been on the sidelines. I’ve always been a No1.’