Goldson has to do what’s right for family, insists club legend

AS his team-mates danced, sang and hollered their way through their post-match celebrations, Rangers’ most vocal player fell silent and drank everything in.

The achievement of reaching the Europa League final represented a new career high for Connor Goldson yet his emotions stirred in a complex mixture.

Rangers’ on-field organiser since moving from Brighton in 2018, away from the fray Goldson is one of the more thoughtful characters at Ibrox and over these past few months he has had plenty to occupy his mind.

Out of contract at the end of the season, the Englishman has politely declined the club’s various attempts to coax him into signing a new deal and he is expected to return south for family reasons this summer.

Richard Gough empathises acutely with his situation.

Back in 1987, the 60-year-old made his own cross-border transfer from Dundee United to Tottenham. The move was supposed to herald an exciting new chapter in Gough’s career but, just months after captaining the London club in the FA Cup final, he was back in Scotland after Graeme Souness sanctioned a £1million outlay to take him to Ibrox.

Just as it suited Gough to move closer to his domestic commitments, so he understands why Goldson

(right) may have to put family first this summer.

‘We don’t know what’s going on with Connor’s family,’ said Gough. ‘He must do what’s right for them and no one at Rangers Football Club will have anything against that.

‘I spoke to him after the Leipzig game and said, “You must make your choices and stick with them but you’ve seen what Ibrox can give you…”.

‘He realises that. He knows he won’t play for a better club than this.’ The size of Rangers was enough to keep Gough at Ibrox when handed a subsequent opportunity to return south. He added: ‘We won the Treble in 1992-93 and after that I was in a situation where I could have gone back to England.

‘I had been tapped to go back to Tottenham if I wanted but I decided to stay at Rangers because I knew what I had.

‘Connor will play in a better league if he moves to the Premier League, there’s no doubt about that.

‘But he won’t play for a club with more tradition. That’s the thing he needs to think about. He is a very quiet and humble guy. But he doesn’t need to worry about what people think about him.

‘If he goes, every Rangers supporter will thank him for what he has done over the last four years.’