There will be several players leaving Rangers this summer, most of whom with medals in their back pockets and a thank you from Philippe Clement for their service.
The Gers boss has pleaded with those that who depart to be remembered fondly and, even in the most extreme case, he has a point.
Last summer saw five first team regulars leave Ibrox but the contracts of those in Rangers current squad that are set to expire aren’t quite as important to Philippe Clement, even if one of those names is a record breaker.
Rangers fans should heed Philippe Clement advice
Part of the turnaround in the Light Blues fortunes this season has been due to how well we have defended.
Only against Motherwell at Ibrox could you say that the whole defence looked like a shambles.
Normally, in the Scottish Premiership, it is a well-oiled machine.
In 2020/21, it was the defence that won the league.
Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe barely got 30 league goals between them but, it was at the other end of the park where we were impressive with one forgotten Rangers pivotal to the early pace that was set.
Nobody knew what to expect after the form at the end of the previously curtailed season nose-dived with Steven Gerrard having to make an enforced change that did little to ease those fears.
Jon McLaughlin was nothing more than an experienced backup when he signed from Sunderland in the summer of 2020 but he was quickly thrown into the deep-end and tasked with being Rangers number one due to an injury to Allan McGregor.
After deputising on matchday one, the Scotland international started the next seven league games and conceded the grand total of zero goals.
The pattern for the rest of the season was set and only 13 league goals were conceded throughout the whole season, a record that will stand for some time.
When Jon McLaughlin leaves Rangers this summer, it will be forgotten how much of a part he played in that season.
After starting six of the seven opening games, the British clean sheet record is clearly more his than it is McGregor’s.
With hindsight, either Gerrard or Giovanni van Bronckhorst should have addressed the goalkeeping issue earlier.
McLaughlin should be thanked for Rangers efforts
McLaughlin had started well at the beginning of the 21/22 season but demoralising defeats to Ajax and Celtic saw his confidence shattered and McGregor recalled.
The Hall of Fame legend looked back to his best to start off with but a dropped corner against Hearts was followed by several other costly mistakes.
Between the goalkeeper and defence, individual errors saw the title change hands when it should have been retained.
McLaughlin has been replaced as backup by Robby McCrorie but it should be remembered what job he was signed to do, and he did that to the best of his abilities.
After all, when you look at the names of some of the previous greats who have held the number one jersey, it’s Jon McLaughlin, not Andy Goram, Chris Woods or Stefan Klos that holds the British record for consecutive clean sheets at the start of a season.
