Ibrox Noise is not going to pretend or be a hypocrite, in the sense that we will not change our view on Ivor Pandur. Of course, the hype machine has gone absolutely ballistic over Ivor Pandur being the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now that he has joined Rangers, he is apparently the greatest goalkeeper the Championship has ever had. We will reserve judgement on that one.
Backing the player without the hype
We trust Derek McInnes and we support the boy completely, but we do not automatically think he will be a success just because McInnes signed him. Pandur is 26, and Hull were willing to sell him. Admittedly, there were the FFP regulations, but he was the first to go to comply with those rules. Is this because they did not think he was good enough for the Premier League? Or was it because his value alone was enough to fulfil those regulations? Rangers paid £6M for his signature.
Jack Butland, as we know, goes the other way, and we will have content on that in due course.
Learning from the past
Pandur’s reputation, while strong, does strike us as a little like the hype Joe Rothwell got from Leeds fans before joining Rangers. Everyone explained to us, from Rangers, Leeds and elsewhere, that Rothwell was an outstanding talent. They also insisted he was one of the main reasons Leeds got promoted.
Ibrox Noise had been against the signing of Rothwell for years. He had been linked earlier under previous managers, and we had been glad we did not get him. We were very unhappy when we finally did, and that signing did not go well. We do not want that history to repeat itself.
Faith in the manager
We do know that McInnes will not be scouting every single player he signs, but he will be approving them. Therefore, Pandur is his signing. He wanted Pandur, and he is quite happy with that goalkeeper as his number one.
Jack Butland’s time at Rangers had run its course, and he moves on with our best wishes. As we say, we will have content on him in due course.
Potential must become success
Pandur’s record and stats do look good on paper. There is no question that the Croatian call up is a decent stopper, but it is Championship level. He is not a winner. He has not won anything significant in his career bar a Croat cup, and he is nothing more at this point than potential.
Rangers are hedging our bets and banking on potential, and we hope it is a good gamble. All we can say is faith in the manager. Faith in the scouting system that this lad is the real deal. Then again, how could he possibly fail with McInnes and Alan McGregor behind him? Surely it is a match made in heaven.