Rangers owe Jack Butland a big debt as Celtic are stopped from winning SPFL title
Jack Butland kept Rangers in the title race with his “incredible instinctive” save from James Bolton in the win at St Mirren, says Alan Rough.
The former Scotland keeper said on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show (29 April) that the Light Blues owe their star man a “big debt” because failure to win the game a day earlier would have allowed Celtic to go on and win the league.
Rangers currently remain three points behind their Old Firm rivals with the final derby game to come, although there are also five worse off on goal-difference.
Rough said (8m 15s): “I personally think that Jack Butland made a save just before half-time that kept Rangers in the running. If he hadn’t made that save, okay you don’t know how the game’s going to pan out, but St Mirren would have been 2-1 up, it was an incredible instinctive save.
“I think they owe him a big debt because if that [result] went two each then I would think that Celtic would win the league, that’s why I’m saying he’s been a big player this year.”
Rangers moment at St Mirren keeps title race alive
It was an excellent save by the former Crystal Palace and Manchester United keeper as has come to be expected of him after a stand-out debut campaign at Ibrox.
With Philippe Clement’s men already pegged back by Mikael Mandron it would have been a major blow to go in the break behind, and based on recent form there is good reason to believe that it would have been too much to come back from.
The title challenge still likely rests on Celtic dropping points elsewhere given a five-goal swing in a Rangers victory at Parkhead is a big ask, but Butland has kept the battle alive for now.
It is that sort of form which has made him a likely target for Premier League clubs this summer, with as much as £20million potentially set to be offered to take him back south.
Having comprehensively addressed the Light Blues’ potential issue in goal after the retirement of Allan McGregor the 31-year-old will leave a huge gap behind if he goes, but for a few weeks more at least he is continuing to impress, and hope remains that he may stay longer.
In other Rangers news, a long-time Ibrox man has “got to go” and must leave the club this summer.
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