Fringe player Andy Firth has been spotted in training ahead of Rangers’ Europa League clash against Antwerp, as his Ibrox contract enters its final months [Rangers.co.uk].
Firth is arguably the most surprising signing Steven Gerrard has made since his appointment as Gers boss in the summer of 2018.
The now 24-year-old was plucked from the obscurity of non-league football in England with Barrow AFC and brought to Glasgow in January 2019.
His initial deal was for 18 months, but he penned a one-year extension in January 2020, taking him through to the summer of 2021.
Firth has only played seven minutes of first-team football across his two-year stint at the club, making his only appearance as a replacement for the injured Wes Foderingham at Kilmarnock on the final day of the 2018/19 season.
The ex-Liverpool Academy keeper did make the bench for four Premiership fixtures earlier this season when Allan McGregor was injured, as well as once in the League Cup when the Ibrox no.1 was rested.
It’s been several months since he was included in a matchday squad, though, and if both McGregor and McLaughlin stay fit, he may not make one again before his contract expires in the summer.
With Kieran Wright back at Auchenhowie amid uncertainty at loan club Partick Thistle and Brian Kinnear training with the first-team prior to breaching Covid regulations, Firth may well have been pushed even further out to the fringes of the squad in recent times.
However, he’s always accepted his status as a backup player at Ibrox and he still appears to be in high spirits, as he posed for the camera in the final image included in the pre-Antwerp preparations training gallery released by the club on Wednesday.
Unlike McGregor, McLaughlin and homegrown prospects Kinnear, Jay Hogarth and Jack McConnell, Firth isn’t part of Rangers’ Europa League squad list and so is ineligible for Thursday night’s fixture.
Therefore, he’ll likely be watching on from the stands once again as the Gers bid to secure a spot in the Last 16.
Ahead of the game, check out our Predicted XI and our Preview Video over on the Rangers News YouTube channel.
