James Tavernier and Giovanni van Bronckhorst have unequivocally absolved Allan McGregor of any blame in recent months by stating mistakes will always happen and he has their backing.

McGregor, for the first time in his Rangers career, has come under major scrutiny for deteriorating performances and some notable mistakes he didn’t use to make, but both his captain and his manager have confirmed he’s 100% the first choice, and if you win as a team you lose as one too and no one is to have the finger pointed at them.

The goalie has definitely been focus of attention, for some errors which have cost points – not least the worst match of his Rangers career up at Dingwall in which he was so far off his old form it didn’t even seem possible, but he followed that up with a difficult afternoon v Motherwell as well and has made some errors of judgement along the way too.

He understandably has the backing of his team mates, and a lot of fans who recognise the wonderful career he’s had, but in the here and now he has certainly made errors, and they’ve cost points.

He’s not alone in this – ex-manager Steven Gerrard backed Tavernier himself when the captain probably cost Rangers a win out in Switzerland, and generally you’ll rarely see team mates and managers criticise each other publicly.

It’s right the squad are backing him up, because that’s what a team does, and in truth, McGregor deserves the right to quit on his own terms.

He’s earned that. It may just be though that more damage is done before he calls it quits.

Unless, that is, he vindicates his manager and captain’s trust in him by regaining the old magic.

We would love that for sure.