If it wasn’t for Jack Butland, former Rangers boss Mick Beale might have been clearing out his locker weeks ago.
During the drawn-out, bordering-on-dismal end to the short-lived Beale era, Rangers’ stand-out summer signing saved the manager’s skin again and again. It’s fitting, in a way, that it was Jack Butland who fronted up to a throng of furious supporters after that calamitous 3-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen last time out – the straw which broke Beale’s back – with the experienced shot-stopper proving himself to ba leader on the pitch and off it too.
Not that Butland had anything to apologise for, of course.
Whoever takes Beale’s place in the scalding Ibrox hotseat will, at least, have arguably the finest glovesman in the country to lay foundations upon for another fresh start.
Frank Lampard may replace Mick Beale at Rangers
Frank Lampard, one of the leading candidates to take Beale’s place according to The Telegraph, knows first-hand just how imperious the former England international can be when he is in one of those ‘thou shalt not pass’ sort of moods.
“Butland is a top-class goalkeeper,” Lampard said back in 2019, the then-Derby County coach paying a reluctant tribute to a ‘very good’ performance from the Stoke City number one following a goalless draw in England’s second tier (Stoke Sentinel).
Butland, interestingly, played alongside Frank Lampard for the England national team a decade ago too. And, considering how Lampard’s teams have tended to defend throughout an unconvincing managerial career thus far – his Everton side shipping goals aplenty prior to the 45-year-old’s eventual sacking in the winter – Butland’s cat-like reflexes could come in very handy once again should Rangers opt for Lampard over an array of alternative targets.
Jack Butland already a Rangers hero
“I’m so surprised they’ve got Jack Butland,” former Rangers winger Neil McCann told BBC Scotland after the one-time Manchester United loanee produced a heroic display against Servette in the Champions League qualifiers.
“I thought that was an unbelievably good signing. To replace someone of the stature of Allan McGregor with someone like this guy…
“I was astounded he chose to come to Rangers over staying in the English Premier League. He must have had options!
“This guy makes big saves.”
