With the much-changed back four
enjoying a very solid outing against Raith Rovers, it was a genuine pleasure to
see the central partnership many have longed for, Darren McGregor and Marius
Zaliukas, finally given a sincere outing.
McGregor has been deployed at RB
the majority of his Rangers career thanks to the “McCulloch Clause”, the
existence of which has divided Rangers fans right down the middle.
On one hand ‘it is ridiculous
that the notion of such a clause even exists. This website just made it up.’.
Then the other hand sees another selection of Lee McCulloch in the first team met on social media
with exasperated angst-ridden comments of ‘AGAIN?! He must have a clause!!’.
Do I have hard proof of the
clause? No, not beyond my sources’ word. But given McCulloch’s absolute
immunity to ever being dropped when fit and not suspended, which has been the
case since 2012, to paraphrase David Hume on miracles, it seems more likely to
deduce there is a clause based on
empirical evidence than there is not.
After all, Ally McCoist had no
difficulty dropping David Weir, and making space for the Goian and Bocanegra
partnership, even despite Sir David being Club captain. This led to King Davie
of Weir quitting Rangers the following summer.
Yet somehow, Lee McCulloch, not a
20th of the defender Weir was, remains absolutely ever-present,
regardless of form.
Hence why tonight’s selection
will be fascinating. Rangers finally saw a convincing back four on Sunday, with
a coast for both Crawford and Wallace while McGregor and Zaliukas soaked up
everything.
If McCulloch comes back in and we
see Zaliukas shunted back to the bench, or McGregor forced out wide and
Crawford on the bench, all to accommodate the captain, it does further
strengthen the empirical evidence, does it not?
Or is Lee McCulloch really just
that deserving to waltz straight back in?
On McCulloch’s selection, McCall
was suitably cryptic:
“I’ve not decided that yet – normally
we’d name the team the day before.”
We will find out around 19:00
tonight where things stand.