As far as nightmare debuts go, Jonathan Woodgate’s infamous bow for Real Madrid remains pretty much the yardstick.
After waiting 13 months to make his first appearance for the Spanish giants, the injury-hit centre-half then promptly scored an own goal and picked up a red card during a debut performance that will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
Now, on his first outing since leaving Rangers, Robby McCrorie did not quite endure an afternoon quite as calamitous as Woodgate did on that fateful 2005 clash with Athletic Bilbao.
But as the former Ibrox goalkeeper allowed a 25-yard shot to squirm through his grasp, this was certainly not the sort of first impression McCrorie wanted to make on his Kilmarnock unveiling.
For Killie boss Derek McInnes, speaking to the Scottish Sun, the good news is that McCrorie may be getting these kind of blunders out of the way in pre-season, before the competitive action starts.
McInnes is convinced that McCrorie will end up becoming an outstanding piece of business for the Ayrshire outfit, indicating that the former Scotland Under 21 international took a pay cut to secure the sort of regular first-team football that proved out of his reach in Glasgow.
Robby McCrorie makes ‘sacrifice’ to leave Rangers
“I think we’ve done really well to pull this transfer off. Obviously its a permanent deal, really important to us,” the former Aberdeen boss tells Sky Sports of a man who had attempted to leave Rangers in January before Philippe Clement put a stop to it.
“Robby is a goalkeeper who has had a good reputation for a while now, he’s just not had that experience or that game time. Working at a big club, good players and good professionals, I think it was the right time for him to come and luckily we have been the benefactors of that.
“We knew at the end of last season that (former Bournemouth loanee) Will Dennis was leaving. We were looking for, ideally, our own goalkeeper rather than a loan. We asked the question a couple of times but we thought it was going to be out of our reach.
“So a lot of people have come a long way to make this deal happen. We’ve got to thank Rangers for the co-operation in this. Robby himself has made a huge sacrifice in terms of financials as well which says a lot about him.”
Robby is the second member of the McCrorie clan to work with McInnes.
The Rugby Park boss also spent time alongside Ross McCrorie at Pittodrie, helping the one-time Rangers defender secure himself a move to England with Bristol City.
McCrorie earned himself a place in Scotland’s Euro 2024 squad following a fine Championship campaign.
Kilmarnock land goalkeeper with ‘massive potential’
“I know the type of boy we are getting. A good family, really hungry. I think we’ve done really well to pull this transfer off,” McInnes adds, McCrorie leaving The Gers after making only seven first-team appearances for the club he joined over a decade earlier.
“I think there has been a bit of frustration that he hasn’t had a bit more game time. For a long time, Ranger shave had top goalkeepers and it’s no shame in Robby not getting ahead of those.
“But he has to get on with his career at the age he’s at and build that career for himself and come out of the shadows a bit.”
Scotland boss Steve Clarke confirmed last year than the national team were keeping tabs on McCrorie.
He added, however, that McCrorie would struggle to force his way into the Tartan Army picture as long as he was stuck behind Jack Butland in Rangers’ pecking order.
Could that move to Kilmarnock be the first step towards McCrorie establishing himself as one of the first picks for his country?
“We feel he’s got a lot of good attributes and the potential is massive for him,” McInnes explains. “We feel we’ve got a top asset on our hands and a goalkeeper who has the potential to go on and do some brilliant things.
“Not only with us. Hopefully, he can force his way into the national team.”
Rangers offset the loss of McCrorie by bringing the ‘outstanding’ Liam Kelly back to Ibrox from Motherwell after his contract expired.
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