Dujon Sterling redemption completed as he captained Rangers for the very first time against West Ham during Sunday’s preseason friendly. The match, of course, finished 0–0 as neither side could find the back of the net. Neither side came particularly close to doing so, but it was a decent workout for everyone involved.
Sterling completes an interesting journey
However, it certainly marks a very interesting journey for former Chelsea man Sterling. Only a number of months ago, Dujon Sterling was involved in a very serious police incident.
Let us face it, he managed to get off rather lightly following a pretty dire offence. It was a dire offence to which he immediately held his hands up.
From there, he managed to avoid any serious repercussions from the law. Now, he has captained Rangers FC.
As we know, the armband is rotating among different players at the moment. McInnes has not yet made a final decision on who the new leader will actually be.
Ibrox Noise has published a separate entry on that one. However, against West Ham, Sterling wore the armband.
Rangers’ best right back
For the time being, he appears to be the first choice right back. Ibrox Noise would happily confirm that he is a better right back than Ross McCrorie.
Sterling’s best position is in defensive midfield, just like McCrorie’s. However, when both play at right back, Sterling performs better.
He reads the lines better and looks more solid and robust. He also does a far better job of picking up men and tracking runners.
It is as simple as him reading that position better. He works hard and looks pretty solid.
He will not offer much going forward, unlike his predecessor Tavernier. However, Tavernier offered absolutely nothing at the back. That is another story for another day.
Sterling will likely remain Rangers’ first choice right back for now.
Captaincy remains another issue
However, the captaincy is another issue. That is the extent of his journey, per se. He has gone from the lows and ignominy of what happened that night in his car some months ago to a significant high.
He received the honour of wearing the Rangers armband for the first time in his entire life.
Sterling is not a leader. He is not the kind of man who will lead other men. He is much more of a follower, and he is good at what he does.
Therefore, it was simply a nice honour for him to wear the armband. He also performed the media duties as Rangers’ leader on the day.
It is not something we expect to see going forward. In all fairness, we would oppose that as strongly as we opposed Tavernier becoming captain in the first place.
Sterling’s redemption is complete
However, we cannot imagine that he will receive the armband permanently. Time will tell whom McInnes picks. As we say, we have a separate piece on that one.
Sterling’s redemption, so to speak, appears complete. He has gone from the ignominy of his position several months ago to captaining Rangers.
He wore the armband in a high profile friendly against West Ham. Dujon Sterling redemption materialised.
A decent turnaround, if you ask us.