If one Rangers player has gone from club superstar to completely rotten form in the past 4+ months it’s Jack Butland.
We absolutely will not shy away from saying how completely terrible Butland has been since he got overlooked for England in the Spring, with his mind clearly distracted and probably eyeing up a return to the Premier League.
The problem for Butland is that at his best, he’s very, very good – but he hasn’t been there since around March, and has seemed a bit disinterested, and unfocused, much like the rest of the team in fairness to him.
But Butland was the season’s star, and since March and including preseason he’s been a shadow of his old self. He looks jaded, and nowhere near the commanding form he had till earlier this year. He’s leaking bad goals all over the place, and while some will just blame the defence, he doesn’t look like he’s even trying.
Liam Kelly’s second half cameo v Ajax, on the other hand, with the same poor defence, completely outshone Butland, the Scotland stopper outclassing him and showing much better form – right now Kelly is the better bet.
So what happened to Butland?
As we say, we think he got overwhelmed with the England stuff, and was so crushed when he missed out on both that Spring international break and then of course the Euros that he lost a bit of oomph.
He wants to play for his country again, but let’s not forget – Butland wasn’t even regarded as good enough to keep goal for a previously-relegation-threatened Crystal Palace, and Man Utd didn’t select him once either.
Are we turning on him?
Yes. We are. We’re not interested in players who see their careers and playing for their countries as more important than Rangers who pay them a fortune.
We want Butland at his best, that’s a great keeper, but he’s a long way from that these days, and we won’t tolerate it, sorry.
Liam Kelly for us can go in till Butland gets his head right.
Unfortunately, we already know Clement thinks the sun shines out Butland’s backside, and the way he singled him out this summer as the most important player in the squad 10 days ago was extremely poor management to say the least. Par for the course with this boss though.
Butland, buck your ideas up or you’re just yet another Todd Cantwell, unfortunately.