Rangers Face Major Decision On Jack Butland | OneFootball

Rangers face a major decision over traditional first-choice goalkeeper Jack Butland. While the former England international rather lost his place towards the end of last season to deputy Liam Kelly, nevertheless the ex-Manchester United star is traditionally Rangers’ first choice and was, for the first eight months of his time at Ibrox, a sensational signing, especially being a Bosman.

He did, however, lose his way a bit from around March 2024 onwards, when the England hype distracted him a bit and his ego grew a little too much as well. The hype over his performance in his debut season was rather large, and while he was very, very solid and Ibrox noise gave him around 8 out of 10 rating for the season, he certainly didn’t quite match Andy Goram, or indeed Allan McGregor, or indeed quite a few of Rangers’ illustrious goalkeepers of the past.

We’d even include Chris Woods in this as well. Nevertheless, Rangers do face a decision. It has been a long-standing argument that when it comes to improving a team, fans frequently dismiss the goalkeeper, rejecting it with dismissive ‘there are more important areas to deal with than the goalkeeper’ type rhetoric.

Unfortunately, in Rangers’ case, it is one of many areas that needs strengthened, and we are hearing rumours, of course, about Aaron Ramsdale. The former Arsenal goalkeeper may have lost his stock, but he, like Butland, was once a £20m goalkeeper. His stock, as we say, has gone down, just like Butland’s did, but he is a bit younger and would feel he has something to prove. He may, however, be financially completely unviable.

But Rangers do need to sort this area out. Sadly, gone are the days when Rangers’ number one was outstanding, was a Goram, a Klos, a McGregor, even a Charbonnier or a Wattereus. No, instead, nowadays, unfortunately, we’ve rather lost our magic between the sticks.

And while Butland, as we say, did start out promisingly, he hasn’t been at that level for a very, very long time. Well over a year now, quite frankly. Liam Kelly, sadly, doesn’t quite match up to what we need from a first choice, but he’s an honourable deputy goalkeeper who will not let you down. And of course, he is a Rangers man, which helps.

Do Rangers need to sign somebody new between the sticks? Yes, we probably do. We need somebody who is strong, reliable and capable of the kind of saves that it seems like none of our men between the sticks can do these days. We remember the halcyon days of McGregor pulling off that miracle stop in Bremen. He did the same in Prague. It was a quite incredible stop, and that applies to both of them.

Butland has fallen quite short of being able to do that. He has pulled off some very good saves. We’re not going to say he’s been a failure, he hasn’t. But his form has badly dipped. We need somebody who is capable of being exceptional. Unfortunately, them lot across the city seem to be a lot better at picking up good number ones. While many would argue about Joe Hart, he was pretty solid. Craig Gordon was very impressive, unfortunately, as Morelos knows only too well. And these days, they’ve got the son of legendary Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel in Kasper between the sticks. And he’s certainly another very, very good stopper.

Rangers have really trailed here. And this window would be a very, very apt time to find somebody between the sticks who can stand up to the level that we consistently need over a whole season. We need a champion goalkeeper. That might not be Aaron Ramsdale, but we certainly need someone.

We don’t think it’s Butland or Kelly.