Van Bronckhorst hints at McGregor stay despite cameo
GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst last night stressed that Allan McGregor’s emotional appearance in the Scottish Cup final may not be the Rangers goalkeeper’s final appearance for the Ibrox club.
Van Bronckhorst started Jon Mclaughlin in the match against Hearts at Hampden yesterday and the Scotland internationalist kept a clean sheet as the Glasgow giants triumphed 2-0 after extra-time.
McGregor, who is one of a number of players who are out of contract this summer, replaced Mclaughlin with one minute remaining, fuelling speculation that it could be his last game.
However, his manager stressed the 40-year-old’s future has still to be decided and talks are set to be held in the coming weeks.
“It was a nice sign from Jon,” he said. “He told me when the result was there for us that he’d give up his place for Allan. It was a nice gesture from him. I’m happy for Allan that he won a trophy.
“I think there will be changes this summer. I’m not sure if out of contract players will sign new ones. Players have the chance to move for another challenge, but they always want stability for their futures.
“Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll know if we can ex. tend or look for other players.
“With Allan McGregor, it’s for the club. It’s not often you have players at 40 years old. It’s amazing how he’s performed. We’ll sit down with him and see how his future is. Talks will go on once the season has ended. We’ll see what will happen.”
Van Bronckhorst is hoping that Calvin Bassey, who was named Man of the Match after an outstanding display at left back, will remain at Rangers despite the defender attracting interest from down south.
“I’m a big fan of Calvin,” he said. “His first action in this stadium when I watched him was the loss to Hibs [in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat back in November].
“But I saw something in him that you rarely see in someone his age. He’s mature, strong and powerful. It’s a pleasure for me to work with him and to work with him in future to make him stronger.
“His development this season has been tremendous, especially with Europe. Today he was impressive again. He’s had great end to season.”
Leon Balogun, the Nigerian centre half who came in for the injured Borna Barisic yesterday, is out-of-contract at Rangers this summer, but he stated that he wants to extend his stay at Ibrox.
He believes the Scottish Cup win will be the first of many trophy successes under Van Bronckhorst, who replaced Steven Gerrard last year, and is eager to be involved in them.
“Everyone who watches me around the club knows I’ve fallen in love with this club,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of downs in my career. That’s why me and Rangers are a good fit.
“Even in the final, I had to go through this and the support was outstanding. I would love to stay. I hope they know that and I hope I can announce something soon.”
Balogun added: “There are a lot of great things about Rangers. If you look at the season, it wasn’t easy. We lost our manager halfway through and had to regroup with a new manager, who has his own ideas. It’s not easy, but we showed we have great resilience and can play great football
“It will help the manager to have a full pre-season. He took over very solid foundations, but every manager has his own style and philosophy.
“I’m genuinely excited at what’s to come as we have made huge steps forward these last few months.”