Does Darren McGregor have a future at Ibrox?

15
Does Darren McGregor have a future at Ibrox?

He was voted Rangers’ Player of
the Year but as soon as new manager Mark Warburton strongly hinted at Danny Wilson and Rob Kiernan for the central partnership as far back as July 9th,
it became apparent Darren McGregor’s Ibrox career would struggle to flourish.
The former St Mirren and
Cowdenbeath stopper has been linked with possible moves away, with one tenuous
connection being made with St Johnstone, but one thing is clear; he is not in
favour at Ibrox any longer, and Danny Wilson and Rob Kiernan are Warburton’s preference at the back.

Even last night’s Petrofac
Training Cup second round tie at Somerset
Park was only the latest
in complete absences from the match-day squad McGregor has suffered, something
which began against Peterhead in the first round of the League Cup, where from
being benched v Hibs at Easter Road, he found himself dropping out entirely.
He has not featured in any
capacity since.
In short, it simply seems that Mark
Warburton does not rate McGregor, and has replaced him with Dominic Ball, who
played in Kiernan’s slot last night, with the former Wigan
defender instead sitting on the bench alongside permanent sub Marius Zaliukas.
Ball found himself on the bench
at the Indodrill, while, as usual, there was no place for McGregor at all. That
is where Ball is likely to feature on a regular basis.
In truth, while McGregor was
Rangers’ Player of the Year, and justifiably so, that does not in itself show
any high honour to be the best of quite simply a ghastly bunch.
He struggled in all the big
matches v Hibs, Hearts and Queen of the South, and was quite simply woeful in
the playoffs, and it seems Warburton noted this, and the inescapable truth that
the (up till then) mediocre Zaliukas was actually one of Rangers’ best players
over the six matches. Hence the Lithuanian plays a fringe role and McGregor appears
to be playing none.
If the playoffs were an audition
for the entire Rangers squad to prove themselves to Warburton, very few managed
to pass it, with only the likes of Law, Wallace, and Miller actually carrying
over into the Warburton first team.
The rest were either released,
sit unwanted, or flirt with the fringes ala Clark and Zaliukas.
As for McGregor, his future is
unlikely to be at Ibrox.

No posts to display

15 COMMENTS

  1. This player has played for Rangers last season (unlike others that have left) he should stay /play to stay at Ibrox while a large number got the boot ! He's as good as S A now a TIM supporter if not better & he want's to play for Rangers ! GIVE HIM A CHANCE ! LOOK WHAT KENNY MILLAR CAN DO !!

  2. I keep on saying this,, McGregor stood out from a bad lot last season, hence why he got player of the year. He was to blame for over 60% of the goals against us,, he has no height, got no pace and certainly isnt cut out for the modern game that Warbuton is imposing on the team. I think McGregor is mediocre at the most,, I think he is an honest player, but not what we are looking for in a player,, Zaliukas i'm Surprised at, as he has a good pedigree that i thoughts would have matched warbutons style, but not to be,, However, regardless how you feel personally about any of the players,, Warbuton is winning games without them,, so ,, cant complain really eh?

    • No pace? Are you serious? McGregor was head and shoulders above Zal and to say he was to blame for 60% of the goals against us is just ridiculous… McGregor was the only solid thing in a marshmallow of a defence last season. While I agree that he does not seem to fit in with the Warburton way I think we owe him a lot more respect for his contribution than your post offers. I'd much rather we all took a leaf out of our new captain's book and stopped looking backwards, great things to come with W&W, long may it continue 🙂

  3. I think it's unfair as McGregor spent a lot of time at right back instead of centre back. Much like Broadfoot its hard to prove yourself when you never play your actual position. He deserves a chance to prove himself at centre back. Let's be honest that hasn't been an area where we've been solid in any match.

  4. A pity, but it is quite hard to argue with The Magic Hat's record so far. Keirnan is still to convince me, and I would not be surprised if he is not a first choice next season, but that just makes McGregor's position worse.

    I suspect he needs to move, we don't need both he and Zaliuskas.

  5. McGregor should be sold along with Zaliukas and Clark. McGregor and Zaliukas ability is okay but not good enough. Clark hasn't done it for me… countless missed one on one chances, right positions but no composure. Give the young lads a game ahead of him

  6. I would keep him as a squad rotation player, i think we will need a bigger/better squad next year so with injurys & toughe games etc i do think we could find a place for him, He is an honest player & i would keep him rather than Zaliukas!!

  7. McGregor should be playing before Kieran end of, and as the man said before play him in central defence always

  8. Think Warbs will have given them all a fair chance at training etc to impress him and despite being one of our better players last season McGregor hasn't cut it, shame, as he seemed as an honest lad but Warbs has to do the job. Think I'd keep him before Zaliukas but we need to be improving our player quality year on year, we should never again just sit on our hands, as Magic Hat said you always need to keep looking for quality and keep looking to improve, no matter how good you think you are. How ever long he stays and I hope it's a long time (well I can hope!) we need to learn the lessons from him and make sure that they are adopted at all levels of our club.

  9. Went to 34 games last season and as much as McGregor was to blame for some goals, the rest of the team should hang their heads in shame, McGregor when played in central defence always looked good and solid and I'd rather have him in first and let Wilson and Kiernan fight it out but in Warburton we trust just my opinion as much as Murdoch should be a first starter,but in Warburton we can't not trust

  10. Would b better deployed to protect back four
    and link up with midfield in certain games.
    But you always need cover also.

  11. Too late now , but as a Hib's fan i thought he might have been offered to them as a make-weight in the deal to bring Alan to Ibrox . He's a reasonable player but too small for a centre-half and not quite good enough for Gers .

Comments are closed.