Whether or not former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard regrets chasing the bright lights of the English Premier League when he dropped us, for what became an absolutely underwhelming and ill fated spell with Aston Villa that saw him sacked with them battling relegation, is open for debate.
The 43 year old had his successes at Ibrox, but it is fair to say the fanbase was split on his actual managerial talent, particularly in light of the immense support team he installed around himself, but after his English disaster, he made the move last summer to the newly minted Saudi Arabian Pro League and joined Al-Ettifaq as head coach.
Few football fans would have seen such a grandiose move coming from the Saudi’s last summer, and no deposit bonus codes for existing players would not have had good odds on some making the move that they did, but this summer Saudi will certainly come into the odds.
It has not all gone to plan and a fair amount of criticism has gone his way given their results, after 30 games he has eleven wins and nine defeats for those who do not know. It is nowhere near his Rangers win record, and only marginally better than his record in The Midlands.
We have clearly moved on with Philippe Clement though, and although the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign may not turn out how anyone would have wanted, there is no denying the impact that the 50 year old Belgian has had, and it cannot be forgotten that he is yet to have a pre season or a whole season in charge, and that could well have ultimately made a major difference to our overall chances of success.
But the Gerrard mention was for a reason. It is widely expected that Clement will want to do a significant overhaul of the squad over the summer so he can further iron out the issues that he has experienced this year, and with departures needing to be part of any war chest the board are willing to give him, we are now seeing rumour mill speculation that our former gaffer could be interested in launching a double raid for current skipper James Tavernier and centre half Connor Goldson.
This is obviously not the first time Gerrard has been linked with making a move for Tavernier, there were reports when he moved to Villa, and 12 months ago the speculation resurfaced when he rocked up in Arabia – but in recent weeks (whether predictable and believable) the rumours have again been building.
On Wednesday major and multiple outlets across the Persian Gulf started to carry speculation that they ‘expected’ talks for the 32 year old to begin after our Scottish Cup final clash and the season officially came to a close.
Goldson’s name was not originally featured in those early reports, the 31 year old former Brighton and Hove Albion player seemed to get added to the speculation as time went on, just simply on the back of other claims that Gerrard was keen on also reuniting with him because he wants to improve the heart of defence for their next campaign after his move disappointing results this season.
Naturally, with the understanding Tav and Goldson have built up over the last few years – which included our title win – it is a pretty easy go to on a media front to link both if he wants improvements, not least his previous association with each player.
We will have to see if the Rangers board look to cash in on them as Clement looks for his own changes, and if we do, we just have to hope that we maximise on the cash that the Saudi’s have already been willing to spend, so it really is in our favour.
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