Now this is going back a bit, back to January and the sad news of Rangers legend Steven Davis’ retirement, but the angle we wanted to take on this one is in actual fact the headline photos.
That group, definitively, aside the surprisingly-absent Abdallah Sima, Kieran Dowell, obviously the now-departed Jose Cifuentes, and Danilo, and naturally, the not-yet in place at that time Mohamed Diomande and Oscar Cortes, marks the entire, definitive Rangers senior squad in a rare photo which saw every single registered senior player, aside the above, pose for a picture.
It was a very interesting couple of snaps, with another one showing the full Ibrox football squad and staff beautifully from above in the home dressing room in Govan.
For those who might not know some of the younger names, 47 is Robbie Fraser, 46 is Johnly Yfeko, and 44 is Bailey Rice, and despite being obscured a tad, 54 is Mackenzie Strachan.
But getting to the point, the players who made this occasion pretty much are Rangers’ senior squad, and it was good to see every single player aside Danilo, Sima and the soon-to-arrive Cortes and Diomande in attendance, even if Adam Devine is another one to have moved on since.
That’s (from the left and relevant):
Robbie Fraser, Johnley Yfeko, Mackenzie Strachan, Bailey Rice, Ross McCausland, Leon King, Alex Lowry, Nicolas Raskin, Tom Lawrence, Connor Goldson, Rabbi Matondo, Kemar Roofe, James Tavernier, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, Dujon Sterling, Jack Butland, Fabio Silva, John Lundstram, John Souttar, Scott Wright, Robby McCrorie, Todd Cantwell, Cyriel Dessers, Ridvan Yilmaz, Kieran Wright, Leon Balogun, Ben Davies and Jon McLaughlin.
29 players in total on show who remain at Ibrox, but with the subsequent addition of course of Sima, Danilo, Dowell, Cortes and Diomande makes it 34. Zak Lovelace? We can’t be sure about him yet.
Philippe Clement has been at pains to dispute both ex-manager Michael Beale and legendary Special One himself Jose Mourinho by saying you need a big, big squad, and going by 34 senior players as the defined squad till summer (including of course some injuries), it’s certainly not far off what the manager wants.
If you’re going to be in three competitions, you need everything you can get, and Rangers squad definitely seems fat enough now to cover what the manager needs.
Just a pity there are only two senior strikers in that lot, but hey, it’s definitely not a bad list.