If I can do half as well as Goram, I’ll be all right
SAYS WES FODERINGHAM
ANDY Goram racked up more front pages than madonna and came with his own self-destruct button. He acquired a raft of ex-wives and liked a drink and a bet the way Donald Trump enjoys a 4am Tweet.
Yet he remains a rangers icon for one reason. When Goram was in goal, Celtic suffered more broken hearts than Taylor Swift. In 26 old Firm matches, he only conceded six times.
at 5ft 11 in his stocking soles, the man known as ‘The Goalie’ scaled heights rangers goalkeepers since have only aspired to.
‘I had a very brief conversation with andy on Twitter when I first joined,’ revealed current Ibrox No 1 Wes Foderingham. ‘He welcomed me to the club and wished me all the best. He had some nice words to say.
‘He has also had some nice words to say about me this season in the programme — which was good to hear from a rangers legend.
‘The fans love him. There is no doubt he was a fantastic player for the football club. It was nice to hear good words from him.’
Goram’s crowning moment came on November 20, 1995.
an old Firm epic was poised at 2-2, Pierre van Hooijdonk’s venomous right-foot volley looking a goal from the moment it left the Dutchman’s boot. Twisting in midair, some improbable acrobatics from Goram kept it out.
a year later, Celtic were under immense pressure to halt a rangers march to nine-in-a-row when he denied Van Hooijdonk once more from the penalty spot.
‘Put it on my tombstone,’ said the late Celtic manager Tommy Burns, ‘andy Goram broke my heart.’
‘I have seen some of the saves on YouTube and fans have made me aware of the performances he has put in against Celtic,’ added Foderingham. ‘If I can do half as well as him in these games, I will be doing all right.’
Based on current stats, Foderingham has a way to go yet. Six games against Celtic have yielded just one draw and last season he shipped 15 goals in six games.
Given the limitations of last season’s personnel, Goram himself could not have kept them out.
armed with a new team, rangers fans will look for evidence of a new dawn this lunchtime. at the very least, something to cling to.
In Goram’s 1990s pomp, rangers would routinely soak up wave after wave of Celtic attack before breaking swiftly up the pitch to snatch the points.
Five years since the club’s last league win over their city rivals — a 3-2 victory in march 2012 — an Ibrox home crowd would take anything in the same postcode this lunchtime.
‘I’m looking forward to this game a lot,’ said Foderingham. ‘I enjoy playing in them — the reason I joined rangers was to play in the big fixtures.
‘We’ve got a point to prove. We know that these matches didn’t go at all well last season, but we have to build on that and improve those results this time out.
‘Sometimes, it just comes down to what happens on the day. In that first (5-1) game, a couple of mistakes cost us, even though we’d started really well.
‘If we can turn up on the day and play our football, hopefully, it’ll go to plan. There are certain events — like Philippe Senderos being sent off — which can change the game and we finished poorly.
‘You’ve got to start and end well on these occasions.’
The recruitment of Bruno alves was intended to pull rangers closer to their city nemesis. The potential loss of the Euro 2016 winner for a number of weeks with a calf tear is, then, a blow.
If Pedro Caixinha is right about ross mcCrorie, the damage could be less catastrophic than first feared.
The rangers manager claims the 19-year-old is destined to be one of the finest central defenders Scotland has seen. Whether he ever actually witnessed Willie miller and alex mcLeish in their aberdeen prime is unclear. But if mcCrorie is as good as his manager thinks, it’s legitimate to ask; why wait till now to play him?
Focus will inevitably fall on the rangers overseas players. Craig Bellamy, a seasoned Welsh internationalist when he joined Celtic on loan in 2005, described his old Firm debut at Ibrox as a breathtaking experience.
How rangers persuade their new boys to breathe calmly and deeply against an opponent unbeaten in their last 56 domestic games will be key to their prospects.
‘Listen, they’re a top team,’ acknowledged Foderingham. ‘They have been unbeaten for a while now and you can’t do that if you’re a bad side.
‘But we strengthened during the summer and we’re better placed now to challenge more than we did last year and that’s what we’ll be looking to do.
I joined this club to play in big fixtures — I enjoy playing in these games
‘The first Old Firm meeting of the season is always the most difficult because everyone is a little apprehensive and you don’t know how the game will go.’
The team who finally take Celtic’s unbeaten record can expect big licks in the headline stakes.
If Rangers — with an £8million summer spend — can’t do it today, it’s natural to ask who will?
Aberdeen’s star faded a little further with a damaging Betfred Cup defeat to Motherwell on Thursday night. Even if first place proves beyond Rangers, victory today can reduce the gap to two points and render second place in the Premiership a realistic goal this season.
‘To be honest, we’re not really interested in their unbeaten record,’ stated Foderingham. ‘Ending their record is just a statistic. Of course, it would be nice if we ended it and we have that opportunity now but we’re only focused on winning games of football.’
How to do it is the question. In two meetings with Celtic early in his tenure, Caixinha went with a midfield diamond, leaving Rangers exposed in wide areas. The temptation to go toe-to-toe with a bitter rival on home turf is always strong. But with captain Lee Wallace, Alves and possibly Declan John absent, it’s probably best resisted.
On days like this, Walter Smith would pull down the draw bridge and go 4-5-1. Rangers have their limitations and a failure to recognise them for a third time would raise obvious questions over Caixinha’s future as manager.
‘We need to be better defensively,’ said Foderingham. ‘But also, when we lost 2-0 to them in the Scottish Cup semi-final, we didn’t lay a glove on them, so that was disappointing as well.
‘If we start quickly and end well, then I don’t see us having too many problems.’