Rangers manager Philippe Clement has given some insight into his relationship with vice-captain Connor Goldson, and has admitted that Goldson is effectively untouchable and a critical part of the first team.
Speaking before Hearts, the boss expressed Goldson’s importance, and how along with a few others, he’s a definitive leader, with the notion anyone else will ever take his place completely dispelled.
He said:
“He hasn’t played every single week. There was one moment when I took him out also to give him a breather. He wasn’t overly happy with that, but that’s not a problem. He respected that, he knew it was best for him and afterwards he said, ‘Okay, yes, I feel the difference’. No, he is a smart, intelligent guy who has the ambition to play every minute. I want 30 players like that – I want every player whose ambition is to play every minute. That is what you need to become a really good side.”
Not only is this vast praise, he basically reveals the Goldson ‘model’ is the one he wants all players at the club to have.
The thing is, we’re pretty sure there’s not a single player at any professional football club that doesn’t want to play every single minute – that’s the point. It’s a strange angle to praise the man from.
He went on:
“He is very important. He is very influential together with a few other guys, with Lunny (John Lundstram), with Tav (James Tavernier), with Jack (Butland). If you are somewhere for 300 games, the club becomes part of your life. This club is not a club any more it is more like a family and that is what you feel with Connor. He is really, really into this club, into everything, into every detail. He is helping the young lads also in a really good way, to show them what the standards are to be a Rangers player. I am really happy about his performances on and off the pitch.”
In short, if any Rangers fan had any pretentions about Goldson ever being ‘dropped’ and genuinely rotated, it’s not happening.
We’ve demonstrated statistically how weak Goldson is, and while there’s been some disagreement about our recent piece on him (a long story) overall there’s only a small number of Rangers supporters who sincerely believe the man is a better option than either John Souttar or Leon Balogun.
But Clement has spoken. Like Gerrard, like Gio, like Beale before him, Goldson is hard-wired in as first choice and nothing is shifting him.
And that’s that.