So that is that, after curiously waiting 24+ hours, Rangers finally confirmed Connor Goldson has left the building permanently, for a fee we understand to be around £2.5M.
There was some nonsense spouted online about the delay being to do with it being a loan deal and Rangers being unable to shift his full wages – utter poppycock – the transfer fee and wages were zero issue for Aris, they’ve been run by Greek millionaires since 2015 so they have the cash.
But no, the deal is done, and Connor Goldson is no longer a Rangers player.
So how do we accurately sum up Goldson’s time at Rangers?
Honestly, if you spend £3M ‘these days’ you don’t get Carlos Cuellar as Walter did in 2007, you get Connor Goldson.
He was a rudimentary Championship-level defender who got the damn luck of a second chance in football after Brighton had completely axed him. The heart condition? It only put him out of football for a few months. They detected something serious, did surgery, and fixed him:
“When new players see the scar on my chest there’s always a big reaction straight away. I was so fortunate; I was out for like 3 to 4 months and have never had a problem since.”
Let’s not overplay it, it could have been a huge deal, which we’re obviously glad didn’t happen, but in the end it wasn’t – his own words.
And when Steven Gerrard signed him, it was all his Christmases at once – he was getting a club he had no business being at, and getting a big wage for doing so.
He was a completely mediocre defender, and he only shone in 55 because, well, everyone did, and there were no fans putting pressure on him.
Connor Goldson ducked cross balls, he didn’t tackle much, he blamed everyone else when he was out of position, and complained his team mates were losers – remember Hampden?
Because, of course, Goldson was a natural born winner himself, with that mighty 3 trophies at Rangers of 18 in 6 years.
Can you detect we’re not big fans?
Never did a Rangers player get the undeserved level of backing over the length of time that Goldson did, and not have to earn his place in the team.
If he was fit, he played, and while you could admire his availability, well, there was a good reason for a defender being that available – he didn’t do ‘physical’.
He managed a modest 45 tackles last season, 46th in the SPL for that. For context, that’s the same number as Celtic attacker Maeda. Number one was Killie’s Phillips, 94. Tavernier was 75. Raskin, who barely played, made 41.
Previous season? Just 37, McGowan at 97.
Let’s not suddenly revise history and turn Goldson into something he wasn’t. Aka a good defender. His big strength was always clearances, and even there he’s on 74 for 22/23 and 84 last campaign. 40th in the SPL.
He was just mediocre all over the shop, rarely to never thriving in any single department of defending.
His big achievement was being top of the run to Sevilla in clearances in that tournament, but then he faffed at the one clearance that truly mattered and cost Rangers the Europa League.
And blamed everyone else there too.
Then got the disgusting pay raise up to £38,000 that summer for his troubles – we still remain appalled at that.
Nope, no love whatsoever for Goldson, as you can tell, but we’re well aware a tonne of fans are calling that £38,000pw and 3 trophies a ‘good servant’. Sure, ok.
That so many supporters praise him as good enough, or used to be, shows how much lower Rangers are these days than Cuellar, Gough, Butcher, even Davie McPherson level for those of you old enough to remember the likes of him.
Goldson would not even have made the bench in those days.
We do know, different times, different eras, but Rangers’ standards should never lower.
Unfortunately they seem to have – we really hope going forward we see defenders of the level we need.
What’s Connor Goldson’s favourite bird? Duck.