Rangers: Alex McLeish made to look silly over Jack Butland transfer call at Ibrox
Alex McLeish has been made to look silly after suggesting Rangers were taking a big punt on signing Jack Butland last summer.
Rangers brought in free agent Butland on a four-year deal last June following his release by Crystal Palace.
The 30-year-old was tasked with filling the void of Allan McGregor and has done so superbly with a number of top-class displays.
However, as shared by Gordon Parks on PLZ Soccer’s The Journos show [26 January], McLeish was never convinced by the signing.
“The interesting thing when Butland arrived is that the perception was it was a gamble,” Parks said.
“I went to Hampden a few weeks after he signed and Alex McLeish, who had him at Birmingham City, wasn’t convinced – he didn’t endorse him.
“There was a suspicion there that it was a gamble and that Butland hadn’t sustained his ability properly.”
In fairness to ex-Gers boss McLeish, he was not alone in questioning whether Butland was actually any good after a largely indifferent career.
After breaking through at Birmingham City in 2012 and earning an England cap not long after, a lot was expected of the young goalkeeper.
However, Butland bounced around and played just 10 league games between the start of 2020-21 and the end of last season as his career badly stagnated.
A move to Ibrox has changed all that, though, and the good news is that he is tied down for a further three years.
Had Rangers been as sceptical as McLeish, he could easily have been handed a short-term deal and potentially moved on this coming summer.
As it is, Butland is here to stay and Philippe Clement knows he is in safe hands – quite literally – with the Englishman between the sticks.
In other Rangers news, a transfer decision on Lawrence Shankland is surely now set in stone.
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