As Ibrox Noise reported, Rangers yesterday confirmed Jack Butland, who sounds absolutely thrilled to be given a new chapter in his career, a good chapter with a champion team.
The 30-year-old former Stoke, Crystal Palace and Manchester United goalie really is about as high-end and marquee as Rangers could possibly hope for between the sticks, given our budget and his own wage reduction to accommodate the move.
Rangers are being blessed with another Allan McGregor, a goalie we had no right to get at Ibrox but for his own love for our club, only as good as Greegsy was, Butland’s CV all-round is actually better.
Butland, given Rangers’ wage limitations, is a much better stopper than we have any right to have in the Scottish Premiership, with only Celtic’s wage offerings making such signings possible. Love or loathe Joe Hart, his CV is impressive, and a guy like him isn’t going to come to Scotland without filthy lucre on offer.
But Butland’s wage is much lower than Hart’s, and this is the crux of it – Butland is at Ibrox for football purposes, not financial ones. His initial demands were Rangers matching his current circa £50,000 pw at Palace, which had the move dead for a spell – but he lowered them into something the club could make manageable.
For a footballer, this is exactly what we fans want. He actually wants to be a Rangers goalie; Jack Butland could easily have found a top Championship or lower Premier League club or a top European side to give him the wage he wanted, but he chose Rangers, with our lower wage.
He wants to play football, and he wants to do it at a packed Ibrox in front of 50,000 every other week – not Stoke, or Blackburn, or even promoted Burnley – he wanted Rangers, and he made it happen by reducing his wages.
It’s not often we see this – not often we see a player making the move for football reasons – finance always plays a big role. Well, almost always.
And as a result, Rangers have a top-class goalkeeper, with a CV better than Allan McGregor’s. Does this mean he will be a better goalie than our former number one? Well, he could be among the best, couldn’t he? His past career certainly hints at a very impressive acquisition, one we had no right to make with our wage structure and finances, but here we are.
Yes, Butland is a truly top goalie and exactly the calibre we needed at the club.
