Another Stevie blow as attacker ruled out on ‘technicality’

1
Another Stevie blow as attacker ruled out on ‘technicality’
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 04: Steven Gerrard, Manager of Rangers gives his team instructions during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Ross County at Ibrox Stadium on October 04, 2020 in Glasgow, Scotland. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Despite his recent decent form, sadly Jordan Jones has missed out on a place in Rangers’ Europa League squad after Steven Gerrard chose Brandon Barker ahead of the NI star, amidst the ‘home-grown’ rule.

UEFA rules state you need to include 8 homegrown players, aka players raised by your football association, and if you don’t have 8, each one less loses you a squad place overall.

Meaning Rangers lost out on having a 25-man squad due to only having four homegrown players, those being Ryan Jack, Allan McGregor, Scott Arfield and Greg Stewart, so Rangers can only take a 21-man squad for the group stages.

And because neither Barker nor Jones is homegrown, Steven Gerrard chose Barker over Jones.

It’s another blow for Jones, just as he was starting to get a foothold in the team, but the squad setup is a bit unfortunate. Even more strangely, he’s not on the standby group either.

Jones’ time at Ibrox has been a rollercoaster and we admit Barker has shown just about enough to be included, while Jones still has some catching up to do.

Barker’s cameo v County probably sealed the deal for him.

No posts to display

1 COMMENT

  1. A policy of moving on the likes of McCrorie and Docherty, while improving on them with foreign talent will leave us short in Europe. Its time for the Academy starlets to really start pushing for a first team slot like Patterson. We need a strong core of homegrown players to help fight on all fronts. No use having a 25 man squad but only being able to select 21 (22 if you include our young RB)

Comments are closed.