Verdict: Shankland Is Gone For Good And Rangers Have Missed Out | OneFootball

With Lawrence Shankland’s switch to West Brom now looking 99% complete, it finally spells the end of the long-running saga of his potential move to Rangers. Fans have reacted surprisingly positively & enthusiastically about his move, suggesting that he was past it, or that his time was gone, that it was a boat that we had missed, but that was that.

Ibrox Noise would not necessarily entirely agree with this. Shankland still had a lot to offer. He still has a lot to offer. And it must not be forgotten that the English Championship is a much higher level than the Scottish Premiership. The simple fact is that he has gone up a level, even if he’s gone sideways in terms of club size.

But the big disappointment really is what could have been. Shankland is a talented striker. He is a Rangers man. He is the kind of player that Rangers needed. Meanwhile, for the last few years we’ve been mostly signing mercenaries and other kinds of players who simply don’t fit the bill. We’re not saying that Shankland is Messi by any manner it means. But he’s a solid performer who, aside one season where his heart wasn’t in it, has been a very regular goal scorer for club and country, not to mention captain. A Rangers man, a leader, and a regular scorer and not viewed by many fans as good enough anymore. We do understand the point, but we disagree with it.

The reality is that with the direction the club is generally going, the identity of what is Rangers is being completely diluted. In our current squad, we have all of no players who are Rangers men by, shall we say, birth, or even by adoption.There’s only one Rangers man in the squad, Liam Kelly. And that’s not really enough these days because he doesn’t play, at least he probably won’t next season anyway, and we will admit in his case, he probably isn’t good enough in the first place. Reasonable backup, but no more.

But in terms of stalwart established first team staunch players, Rangers don’t have a single one that is, shall we say, one of us. That is extremely disappointing. Shankland could have helped that. Even if he’s not an outstanding player to the extent that Rangers fans want these days, he is of the right stock. And he is still, let’s face it, good enough. He’d have something to contribute. So while the fans en masse are happy enough that he’s not coming, Ibrox noise does feel like it is a missed opportunity even at this point. But then with the new ownership, targets were going to change anyway.

So that, we guess, is the end of that.