On Tuesday afternoon, Rangers are set to kick-off their Europa League qualifying campaign.
First up, is the away leg of QR1 as they travel to Gibraltar to face St Joseph’s.
With Sunday afternoon’s friendly against Oxford United the first of the club’s official pre-season schedule, we don’t yet know a lot about Stevie G’s thoughts on team selection.
There’s a cloud hanging over one particular senior player though, in Jamie Murphy.
Murph to miss out?
The 29-year-old winger is making his long-awaited comeback following serious knee ligament damage sustained last season.
He picked up the injury on an artificial playing surface at Kilmarnock and therefore, is already a doubt for the first SPL fixture there in August. He admits he doesn’t know if he’ll be permitted to play on those surfaces by the club’s medical staff [Daily Record].
Therefore, when it was established that St Joseph’s also play on an artificial, we suggested it could affect both his and Borna Barisic’s availability.
A decision made on Saturday afternoon initially looked to confirm that hypothesis.
Murphy dropped down to turn out for a Gers development team who defeated Stirling Albion 2-1. He and Graham Dorrans were the only two established senior players to feature.
It seems he registered an assist and played the full fixture. Yet, his involvement means it’s unlikely he will feature in Sunday’s friendly against Oxford United, the squad’s final preparations ahead of the European action.
Of course, playing him in this fixture over the Oxford match could be an attempt to grant him extra recovery time ahead of the Europa League fixture. Yet, it’s surely unlikely the club would risk him turning out on a plastic surface in his first game for 11 months.
Either way, we shouldn’t have to wait long to see him return to competitive action.
The second leg of the tie against St Joseph’s takes place at Ibrox on Thursday 18th. You would expect a fully fit Murphy to play a big part in that game.
