By making his 500th Rangers appearance against Dundee United on Saturday, Allan McGregor became only the 16th player in the history of the club to do so.
You can’t help but think his former Ibrox mentor Billy Thomson will have been looking down from above with a great sense of pride.
The 41-year-old was recognised for his outstanding service when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in February after two success-laden spells at Ibrox and has also been rewarded with a testimonial against Newcastle United in the summer.
But without Rangers' late goalkeeping coach, McGregor’s career could have panned out entirely differently. The pair enjoyed a close bond, so much so that Thomson’s reassurance the young stopper would eventually be afforded the opportunity to become No.1 proved to be invaluable.
The McGregor era resembles a fairytale. His long and distinguished career began once upon a time at legendary Edinburgh boys club Hutchison Vale where he and many others harboured dreams of becoming professional footballers.
Dave Cunningham played right-wing in the team that also contained former Ibrox youth, Steven McLean.
“I played with Allan for five years before he went to Rangers and I went to Newcastle United,” he recalls.
“Even then he was a different cup of tea to everybody else. He was superb and he could play outfield too. He played in goal for Hutchy but he used to play outfield for his school team Forrester High School and I think he scored more goals than most of the boys that played with the school team.
“His kicking was unbelievable, even from a young age. The way he could kick the ball was frightening.
“There was no one close to him when we were younger. We won every game we played for five years. We won five Scottish Cups and I can remember beating Rangers in a cup final and Allan being in goal for us that day.
“His photos are all over the walls of the clubhouse, everyone at Hutchison Vale is proud of him. I’m a Rangers supporter too so I’m really proud. I think he’s up there alongside Andy Goram as the greatest-ever keeper.
“We've produced loads of good players, you’ve had Garry O’Connor, Derek Riordan, Colin Nish, Mark Burchill, Steven McLean, the list goes on. There were loads of them but Allan was the cream of the crop.”
Clive Glass coached both Cunningham and McGregor. He tells the Rangers Review, he knew McGregor was destined for greatness when he imitated a certain flamboyant ex-Liverpool keeper.
“When we went to Holland for a tournament, he was one of the first ones to do the Bruce Grobbelaar thing, the shaky legs. That’s how confident he was,” the coach confides.
“I had him from 10 years old and he joined Rangers around 11 or 12 when Jim Dorney took him to Ibrox. I didn’t have the savvy to put a pound on him and say he’d represent Scotland back in the day. I would’ve made a fortune out of it, that’s how good he was.
“We have had a good number of goalies in the past but he was the best. You could see he was a standout. His dad played in goals as well, big Alex, and you could tell he would definitely get a game for a club.
“He never liked losing a goal but he wasn’t as bad as he is now, there was no foul language coming out of him. I would’ve put a stop to that if that happened.
“He was a bright lad and all he wanted to do was play football. He saved a lot of penalties, he was a good shot-stopper and he had a good kick out in him, he could kick it from one end of the park to the other, that was one of his best traits.
“We didn’t just work him as a goalkeeper, we’d maybe work with him for half an hour or an hour as a goalkeeper but he used to come into the training with us and that’s where he got his ball skills. That’s helped him in his career because he’s good with his feet.
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“Back in the day, everybody wanted to be a professional and that was their attitude. We’d have training camps where we’d take them away for a weekend to Dalguise. If they were 10s we’d mix them with 11s so they’d get stronger. If a wee laddie was good enough he would play. McGregor came to us when he was eight years old but played for three years at under 10s.”
It wasn’t long before McGregor’s performances caught the eye of the team from Govan. It’s where former Ibrox youth keeper Michael Rae first came across this talented young stopper from the capital. “In my first two years as an apprentice one of the tasks I was given was to get my coaching badges and work with the young goalkeepers who were on schoolboy forms,” he says.
“It was him, Mark Brown and Graeme Smith that were the three that I worked with on the astroturf outside Ibrox and I used to train them every week.
“His shot-stopping was excellent back then, he was very athletic and very agile and had good handling. Straight away, the basics were there and it was just about getting the consistency to come with it.
“I was there when Andy Goram was there and we were taught by Alan Hodgkinson so I took what Hodgey taught me and took it to those guys.
“It was all about catching the ball as many times as possible. You had to try and catch and not drop anything. You used to put two cones out and anything inside that you had to catch, anything outside that you were allowed to tip around the post but it was all about catching the ball as much as possible.
“Back then he had that self-belief and self-confidence that every goalkeeper needs but he also had that little Jack the Lad about him at the time.
“He’d come in during all the school holidays and then one year he just grew and it was a case of, ‘Oft! Where did that come from?’
“He wasn’t the biggest lad and then all of a sudden he grew a few inches. He’s one of those boys I like to say is a dressing room player, he helps with the atmosphere and the team bonding to create that team spirit. Allan was always at the forefront of that even back then as a young lad.”
For Rae, having worked under The Goalie, McGregor is befitting of being spoken about in the same breath.
“Allan’s had a fantastic career, the longevity is amazing. For me, Andy will always be the greatest but there’s no reason why Allan cannot be considered right beside him.
“I put him in the bracket alongside Stefan Klos and Chris Woods as well. I would say he’s in the top five keepers Rangers have ever had.”
Despite progressing through the youth ranks and making his Rangers bow in 2002 in a Scottish Cup thrashing of Forfar Athletic, McGregor found first-team opportunities hard to come by and departed in the summer of 2004 in search of regular football.
John Connolly would provide the 22-year-old with the chance to learn the game at First Division St Johnstone on a six-month loan.
Unfortunately for the former Saints boss, McGregor’s enforced return to Ibrox would culminate in him losing his job shortly after. “He wasn’t getting in at Rangers and I managed to get him out and he was great for us, he was tremendous,” Connolly recalls.
“The only problem I had was at that time you could only get someone out on loan for six months so at the end of December he had to go back to Rangers or I would’ve kept him on.
“The crazy thing was during December I don’t think we lost a goal and Allan got Player of the Month and I got Manager of the Month and then Allan had to go back to Rangers and I got sacked in April. That was the disappointing thing.
“He was very easy to manage and as soon as I got him I could tell in his six months with us that he had the potential to be a terrific goalkeeper and that’s what proved to have happened.
“I’m pleased for him and pleased for how he’s gone on to have the career he’s had. It’s a fantastic career, Hall of Fame, Scotland international and 500 appearances, well done to him.”
Like Rae, Connolly also worked with both McGregor and the late great Andy Goram when he enticed him to Queen of the South at the tail end of his career.
He says McGregor has earned the right to be included in the conversation as to who has been the greatest-ever Rangers goalkeeper. “One of the biggest things about Andy was he was very vociferous, he could play a game without making a save by the mere fact he’d organise at the back.
“When you look at what Allan’s went on to do at Rangers and the goalkeeper he’s turned into, I imagine he’ll be doing all the things that Andy was doing.
“The difference between the two keepers would probably be that Andy was more of a shot-stopper whereas although Allan had shot-stopping skills, he dominated the six-yard area. Both of them were tremendous.”
After experiencing Helicopter Sunday from the sidelines with Ronald Waterreus and Stefan Klos ahead of him in the pecking order, McGregor’s thirst for game-time saw him move on loan to Dunfermline under the charismatic Jim Leishman.
The former Pars manager credits the Rangers hero with providing him with one of the greatest moments of his entire life. “It was me that made him a goalie, he’ll laugh at that,” he quipped.
“When I signed Allan, he was frustrated at Rangers as he wasn’t getting any chances to play in the first team so we gave him an opportunity to get first-team football. He had loads of potential when I had him, he just wanted an opportunity to play. People get opportunities in life, Allan got his opportunity and he took it and once he got his chance he never looked back.
“He came in and he did well. He was a solid and reliable goalkeeper and he helped us get to one of the highlights of my life which was the League Cup final. I’m sure he must be quite proud at getting to a cup final with Dunfermline. He did us proud and I think he enjoyed his time there.
“I can’t remember him having a bad game. We beat Celtic on a rare occasion at Parkhead and he was brilliant, he played some great games for me.
“I have wonderful memories of the boy and I’d like to congratulate him, it’s a momentous achievement, 500 games in the first team is great in anybody’s book.”
A successful loan at East End Park wasn’t enough to cement a first-team place, however. A change in manager at Ibrox didn’t bode well for McGregor as Paul Le Guen drafted in former PSG stopper Lionel Letizi.
Despite deputising for the Frenchman after sustaining an injury and subsequently impressing, Letizi was immediately recalled.
Step forward, Billy Thomson.
Speaking to the Rangers Review before his sad passing in February, Thomson described the moment the penny dropped for Le Guen. “There was one point where he’d been on loan at Dunfermline and came back a wee bit disillusioned,” Thomson said.
“I just said to him, ‘Look, it’ll come don’t worry about it, you’ll soon be established as the Rangers No.1 - so just don’t worry about it.’ “I think it was around the time when Alex McLeish was the manager and he brought in Ronald Waterreus. Greegsy then actually played a few games but then Paul Le Guen came and brought in Lionel Letizi.
“Then all of a sudden he got injured and Greegsy came back in and he was outstanding.
“Paul came in the office one morning and said, ‘Thommo, I’m bringing back Lionel’, and I just looked and I said, ‘You’re bringing back Lionel? Allan McGregor has been your best player for seven, eight, nine, ten games’ but he said, ‘No, I’m going to do it.’
“I said to him, ‘Look, the crowd are uneasy, we’re not going through a particularly good spell at the moment and if anything else happens it just enhances it,’ and he just said, ‘No, the reason for doing it is Lionel got injured and that’s why he was out the team, it wasn’t because of bad form so my philosophy is, if you get injured and you’re back fit, you’re straight back into the team.’ I thought, ‘Wow! Ok, you’re the gaffer,’ so he brought Lionel in.
“I had to speak to Greegsy and reassure him but by that point, he’d played a number of games and he knew he could establish himself, no problem.
“Lionel came in and I think we were playing Inverness at Ibrox, it was something like the 90th minute and the boy hit one from about 25 yards and I’ll be honest, I could’ve saved it at that age. It went under him and the crowd went berserk.
“Paul came over to me at full time and said, ‘I need to apologise, I should’ve played Allan’, and that was it, Allan went in and did exceptionally well.”
Exceptionally well is an accurate summation of McGregor’s contribution at Rangers. As his playing days edge closer to a conclusion, there have been murmurings of a potential coaching role at Ibrox. However, that may be a tad far-fetched according to Clive Glass.
“I thought he would’ve put something back into the game," he says. "I was speaking to his dad a couple of weeks ago when I met him in the coffee shop and he said he’s not going into football coaching and he’s not taking his coaching badges. I’m a bit disappointed in that as he’s got bags of experience to pass on.”
Rangers manager Michael Beale was also quizzed on such matters in his press conference on Friday.
“He plays a lot of golf, so maybe he sees himself joining a different type of schedule,” he joked before adding, “I think you can't force coaching upon any player, regardless of how big their career is.”
Whatever the future holds for Allan McGregor, his story is one of belief and perseverance. Like many youngsters who pass through the gates at Hutchison Vale, he had a dream of becoming a professional footballer and, boy, has he lived the dream.
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