Michael Beale says Rangers have big decision to make on goalkeepers this summer

Rangers boss Michael Beale admits he has a big decision to make on his goalkeepers this summer, with the possibility of a new number one coming in.

Jon McLaughlin was picked to start against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night as Rangers won 3-2 at Rugby Park, but veteran keeper Allan McGregor was the choice last weekend in the Viaplay Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.

Robby McCrorie has only had limited game time at Ibrox but has been out on loan to develop and is highly regarded, having been named in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad.

Asked if he intended to continue to change his goalkeeper between now and the end of the season, Beale explained that McGregor had been rested. However, the manager was clear that a long-term decision has to be made on the position and he didn’t rule out going into the transfer market to find the solution.

“I think maybe if we hadn’t played 120 minutes at the weekend, we might have stuck (with McGregor),” Beale said. “I think it was the right thing to do tonight. I think everyone should expect to see Allan again at the weekend and then after that, we’ll assess from there.

“I think it’s clear at the end of the season we need to either bring a goalie in or make sure that we’ve made a decision on John or Robby to be number one.

“And so I think I have to give that and I have to give all the players in-house an opportunity as well, because I am going to change players in the squad over time.

“I am going to change the look of Rangers to move forward. We’re going to re-energise it with younger, young players coming in and then we’ve got a lot of uncertainty around some of ours.

“At the moment everyone’s pulling in the right direction. I couldn’t be more pleased with the three goalkeepers I’ve got right now, if I’m honest.

“Obviously, Robby’s not fit, but he was in Scotland’s last squad, so it was the third choice. Obviously, Craig’s got injured, so Robby’s really keen to play, and whenever John plays, he does well for us.”

McGregor signed a new one-year contract last summer but will be 41 at the end of this month and Beale said the player will be thinking about whether or not to continue.

“Well, we’ve not had that conversation, but I’m sure Allan is of an age that he’s thinking about coming nearer to the end,” the Rangers manager said. “He’s obviously out of contract as well.

“I think Allan played well at the weekend. I think there’s a lot of noise around our goalkeeper situation, but I wasn’t here in the first half of the season when those things happened.

“I’ve been here now and I’ve been quite happy with the goalkeepers.”