End of the Ibrox road nearing for Allan McGregor?

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End of the Ibrox road nearing for Allan McGregor?

There’s been a lot of talk about the rise of Robby McCrorie and the fact he’s back at Ibrox with English giants West Ham sniffing around him.

But there’s a bigger picture; at 38 and not a million miles away from 39, number one Allan McGregor is not getting any younger and there has been more than a spot of discussion about his successor.

Many had cited now-QPR stopper Liam Kelly as Greegsy’s natural follow-on, but with the former Rangers Academy graduate now in England and securing a starting spot in the last 10 matches (conceding an honourable 10 goals) his Rangers chances are practically nil.

Which brings us back to McCrorie, and, for now, McGregor himself.

Is this to be his last season in senior football?

We know goalies can go on way longer than outfield players, after all look at Gigi Buffon who at 42 is still turning out for Juve in a winning team. But he’s a law unto himself, and we’re not sure McGregor has another four years at the level he showed in 18/19.

19/20 was a little patchy by his standards, still producing great saves but not looking the assured self he perhaps did in the previous season.

And frankly that’s just age, little more.

McGregor has been a good servant for Rangers – sure, the 2012- stuff wasn’t ideal, but he ditched cushy English well-paid football to come back to Rangers under Steven Gerrard, and even if he’s not viewed quite as lofty as some of our own players over the years (because of those 2012- events) he’s still one of our own and undoubtedly one of the best British keepers of the past 20 years.

But he can’t go on forever and Rangers must be looking now at and planning for life after him.

Will McCrorie, at just 22, be his natural replacement?

Maybe. It would be a hell of a gamble to go with such a young keeper.

But hey, AC Milan did it with 16-year old Gigi Donnarumma and he’s regarded as one of the best goalies on the planet now.

That said, there might still be life yet in McGregor. And we’re not writing him off.

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