Gerrard vindicated over controversial summer exit – did Rangers dodge a bullet?

Last summer one of the first things Steven Gerrard did was to let Wales left back Declan John go.

Fans were absolutely astonished, including ourselves, that we’d dumped such a good player and at such a low apparent price.

Swansea ended up with him and of course Gerrard secured the so-far disappointing Borna Barisic.

However, while many argue Gerrard made an error letting the ex-Cardiff man go, his time at Swansea has been a litany of injury and loss of favour, and the defender has only made 8 appearances in England’s championship since his return, making us ask the question;

Did Gerrard get that one bang on?

Sure, it’s not exactly worked out well via the alternative – the Croat he brought in has been a flop, Lee Wallace has faded from the picture, Lee Hodson isn’t good enough at LB and neither is another Gerrard signing Jon Flanagan.

But if John’s time back south is anything to go by, Rangers may not have lost an awful lot by letting the international go back to Wales after all.

In fact, while Barisic has by no means blown us away, the fact he’s managed any assists at all beats the 0 that John has made – it’s not quite silk over cotton, but it has vindicated Stevie’s call to let the flanker move on.

Indeed, John complained about his tough time at Cardiff originally – now with Swansea he’s not getting it a lot easier.

He excelled in the SPL, perhaps, and struggles in the Championship – but either way his exit doesn’t seem to have hurt us as much as it initially seemed to following the protestations at him being let go.